Why Safeguarding The Knuckles Mountains Is Critical For Sri Lanka
09 January 2026, Sri Lanka: The Knuckles Mountain Range, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stands as one of Sri Lanka’s most critical natural assets. Beyond its global ecological value, the range functions as a nationally important water tower, sustaining livelihoods, ecosystems and economic activities far beyond its boundaries.
In the upper catchments, the Knuckles landscape supports subsistence farmers and plantation communities who depend directly on its land and water resources. Further downstream, its rivers and watersheds feed agricultural systems, enable hydropower generation, and supply water to towns and cities. These interconnected services underpin food production, water availability and climate stability across the country.
The Knuckles ecosystem also plays a vital role in maintaining climate resilience in Sri Lanka’s downstream dry zone, where agriculture is central to national food security. As climate risks intensify, the health of this landscape has become inseparable from the country’s broader development and resilience goals.
Protecting the Knuckles Mountain Range is therefore a strategic national priority, not merely an environmental concern. The Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF)–GCF Knuckles Project demonstrates how integrated landscape management, grounded in scientific evidence and strengthened through partnerships, can transform climate risks into opportunities for sustainable development. Safeguarding the Knuckles is essential to preserving Sri Lanka’s environmental integrity, water security and long-term climate resilience.
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