Department of Wildlife Conservation
වනජිවි සංරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව
வனசீவராசிகள் பாதுகாப்பு
Agency overview
FormedOctober 1949 (1949-10)
(as the Wildlife Department)
Preceding agencies
JurisdictionGovernment of Sri Lanka
Headquarters811/A Jayanthipura Road, Battaramulla
6°53′50″N 79°55′11″E / 6.897154°N 79.919845°E / 6.897154; 79.919845
Employees1,826 (2017)[1][2]
Annual budgetරු 5.204 billion (2017)[1]
Minister responsible
  • C.B. Rathnayake
Agency executive
  • Chandana Sooriyabandara, Director General
Parent departmentMinistry of Environment and Wildlife Resources
Key document
Websitedwc.gov.lk

The Department of Wildlife Conservation (Sinhala: වනජීවී සංරක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව Vanajivi Sanrakshana Departhamenthuwa) is a non-ministerial government department in Sri Lanka. It is the government department responsible for maintaining national parks, nature reserves and wildlife in wilderness areas in Sri Lanka.[3] Forest reserves and wilderness areas are maintained by the Department of Forest Conservation.[4] The head of the department is the Director General of Wildlife Conservation, formally known as Warden. It was established in October 1949 with Captain Cyril Nicholas, MC as its first Warden.

Personal

Head quarters

The department is headed by the Director General of Wildlife Conservation, with it headquarters located in Battaramulla. The head office is made up of several divisions covering operations and administration under the preview of Directors, deputy directors and assistant directors.

Field deployments

Each province as an assistant director assigned to it with an office located within the province. The Elephant Transit Home and Training Center has an assistant director in charge of each.

The department deploys a large number of field officers and personal to manage and protect the wildlife in the national parks. They have law enforcement powers under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance and the Fire Arms Ordinance. They operate range offices and beat offices.

The field carder grades include;

Field carder
Number of PAs administered by the Department[1]
Number of PAs Declared as at December 2017
National Reserve Strict Natural Reserve 3
National Park 26
Nature Reserve 9
Jungle Corridors 1
Sanctuary 62

List of national parks administered by the Department

List of nature reserves

  • Vidataltivu Nature Reserve

Conservation centers under the Department

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Department of Wildlife Conservation2017" (PDF). Parliament of Sri Lanka.
  2. ↑ "Budget Estimates 2017- Volume 3: Fiscal Year 2017". treasury.gov.lk. Ministry of Finance. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "The economic value of elephants in Sri Lanka for tourism | Daily FT". www.ft.lk. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  4. ↑ "Wildlife officers capture "violent" leopard in Panama". Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst. 2021-01-03. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
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