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Restore mangroves for coastal safety, say Forestry confab
By N. Dilshath Banu
The 17th Commonwealth Forestry Conference that ended yesterday in Colombo called on the Commonwealth Governments to conserve and restore mangrove forests which had an important role in mitigating the impacts of tsunamis and storms.

"People destroy mangroves to economically build up their lives. This has a negative impact during tsunamis. People know that they should conserve forests but they don't know how. The Commonwealth governments must increase the focus of forestry programmes on helping the vulnerable in society," said chairman of the Standing Committee on Commonwealth Forestry, Tim Rollinson.

The theme of the five-day conference was 'Forestry's contribution to poverty reduction' and it highlighted how forestry was being under-valued for poverty reduction. The resolutions adopted emphasized a strong national-level linkage between forestry and other government sectors to grant priority to Forest Department training programmes and take steps to enable small-time forest producers to access markets and secure a fair return.

"We have drafted the resolution and will be discussing these issues with the government for implementation," said Forest Department's Conservator General Sarath Fernando.

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