(MENAFN- IANS) Colombo, Nov 3 (IANS) Sri Lanka on Monday launched an integrated operational task force named 'Wana Surakuma' under the Ministry of Environment to protect the country's natural forests and wildlife resources.

The ministry said the main objective of 'Wana Surakuma' is to make forest and wildlife protection operations more efficient while preventing and suppressing environmental crimes.

The unit brings together officers from the Department of Wildlife Conservation, the Department of Forest Conservation, the Police Special Task Force, and representatives of Sri Lanka's tri-forces. It aims to strengthen coordination and rapid response to forest-related crimes across the country, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The task force will operate a 24-hour hotline service via the short code 1995, enabling the public to report incidents of forest destruction and environmental harm.

Last week, Xinhua news agency reported that Sri Lanka is bracing for the implementation of the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which will take effect on December 30, requiring all commodities entering the EU market to be deforestation-free and legally sourced, according to a recent study by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a Sri Lanka-based research institute.

The regulation targets seven key commodities, including natural rubber, palm oil, soy, cattle, cocoa, coffee, and wood, along with products derived from them, such as tires and wooden furniture. Sri Lanka's rubber exports to the EU, valued at approximately 338 million US dollars in 2024, form a significant part of this trade, IPS researchers said.

To comply with the EUDR, exporters must provide detailed geolocation data and demonstrate legal ownership of the land where commodities were sourced. While large plantations may manage these requirements without major difficulty, the study highlighted challenges faced by smallholder farmers who cultivate over 68 percent of Sri Lanka's nearly 98,400 hectares of rubber.

Lack of digital infrastructure, unreliable internet access in rural areas, and the complexity of digitising land titles hamper smallholders' ability to meet the stringent traceability and documentation standards, the IPS team noted. The potential exclusion of small farmers from lucrative EU markets raises concerns about the socio-economic impact on rural communities.

IPS modeling projects that compliance could increase export costs by five per cent, leading to a 7.6 per cent decline in rubber exports to the EU, equating to an annual loss of 24.4 million dollars. Failure to comply might result in a complete loss of EU market access for these products, potentially shrinking the country's gross domestic product by 0.07 per cent.

Employment in the rubber manufacturing sector, which currently supports over 34,000 workers, could also be affected. The study estimates that a non-compliance scenario would reduce labor demand by 15.6 per cent, resulting in thousands of job losses.

-IANS

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