COLOMBO, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's cabinet has approved a proposal for the introduction of a new law named Reforestation and Forest Cover Act to facilitate the plan to increase the country's forest cover to 32 percent of the total land area by 2032, a statement from the government information department said on Tuesday.
According to the statement, Sri Lanka has also planned to increase the quantity of carbon absorbed by the forests by 7 percent from the existing quantity by 2030 and comply with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The department said actions are being taken now for forest plantation, restoring the eroded forests, and increasing forest cover of government and private lands away from forests to realize this objective.
It said the programs would be carried out with the participation of various parties and it was necessary to distribute benefits among them.
The relevance of establishing a national forestation fund to obtain assistance from private sector, non-government organizations and international organizations has been recognized to find funds for the implementation of forestation with much productivity, according to the department. ■
