Sri Lanka is marking World Environment Day 2026 on Friday under the theme of climate action, with the main national event scheduled at Temple Trees under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, NewsFirst reported.
The observance, established by the United Nations in 1973, focuses this year on the urgent need to mitigate climate change. Environmental experts cited by NewsFirst warned that human activities and uncontrolled development continue to place pressure on global ecosystems, with effects increasingly evident in rising temperatures, melting glaciers, sea-level rise, extreme weather events and forest fires.
As a biodiversity-rich tropical island nation, Sri Lanka remains highly vulnerable to climate impacts while also playing what officials described as a vital role in conservation. A week-long environmental awareness and conservation programme is being rolled out across the country to mark the day.
Environment Minister Dr. Dhammika Patabendi said five forests will be officially declared protected reserves on Friday as part of the celebrations. The five Anuradhapura forests — Ritigala, Aliyawetuna Wewa, Bulagala, Konketiyawa and Kallanchiya, covering 2,169 hectares — were announced in late May, with formal gazetting set for today. Their addition raises Sri Lanka’s total number of gazetted forest reserves to 86 under the 2025 forestry programme.
The wider conservation push has also included restrictions on plastic and polythene at Vesak dansals and the reopening of the Ridiyagama Wildlife Corridor butterfly garden, which hosts 248 butterfly species including 31 endemics. Three designated elephant corridors are being opened alongside the new reserves to ease human-elephant conflict.
President Dissanayake’s Central Highlands Protection Authority, gazetted in April, sits alongside the Vanaspathi forestry programme as the two principal new conservation governance structures introduced this year.
