Biodiversity Sri Lanka (BSL) in partnership with the Forest Department, IUCN Sri Lanka and selected private sector partners, undertook a pilot project to establish the biodiversity baseline in a 10 hectares block of degraded land, in the Kanneliya rainforest in 2018. The site is best described as a degraded rainforest which has been cleared for cultivation and subsequently abandoned resulting in the colonisation by the pioneer fern species Dicranopteris linearis (Kekeilla).
The project objective is to restore the degraded rainforest by improving its ecological functions, habitat enrichment and diversity in species by following scientific methodologies and efforts from expertise in the field and with the support from the community. The project has completed 4 years and will continue to show a positive impact that can be an excellent case study for future restoration projects in the country.