Since 2010, the Sri Lanka Program for Forest Conservation (SLPFC) has maintained several endowed programs that enable faculty, doctoral students, masters students, and undergraduate students from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Peradeniya, Uva Wellassa University, and Yale University (USA) to study tropical forest conservation at the SLPFC field station located adjacent to the Sinharaja World Heritage Site and Man and the Biosphere Reserve in the village of Pitekele in southwest Sri Lanka.

The 20-acre SLPFC field station is a state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to understanding and developing technologies toward rain forest conservation and local community development, thereby serving as a world class model in research and education, as well as a demonstration in land use sustainability for practitioners, policymakers, and university students.

Examples of work undertaken by past fellows include: developing a manual detailing the plant diversity of the demonstration home garden in Pitekele, relating multi-species bird flock use of Pitekele home gardens to the structure and composition to quantify land conservation value, understanding local people’s use of forest resources and role in livelihoods, and creating a digital resource for researchers and students to explore and learn about the flora of the Sinharaja rainforest.

A
B
Figure 1 A. View of the village of Pitekele and their tree gardens, tea and rice cultivation. The field station is located at the top of the valley adjacent to the rain forest (in the left background of this photo) with the village downstream following the river and valley. 1 B. View of the adjacent Sinharaja Rain forest – a World Heritage Site and Man and the Biosphere Reserve