Hemas Partners with WNPS PLANT to Restore Critical Hill Country Forest Corridors

A new partnership is helping restore and reconnect critical forest habitats in Sri Lanka’s hill country.

Hemas Holdings has partnered with WNPS PLANT to support ecological restoration in the central highlands, including the creation and strengthening of forest corridors within plantation landscapes.

A key focus is Abbotsleigh Estate in Hatton, where restoration is taking place within an ecologically important watershed. The Hatton Oya, which forms part of the wider Mahaweli River system, originates within this landscape, making forest restoration here important not only for biodiversity, but also for the health of downstream freshwater ecosystems.

The initiative focuses on restoring native vegetation and strengthening connectivity between fragmented habitats, helping create safer and more continuous landscapes for wildlife while improving the ecological resilience of these areas.

The partnership also demonstrates the important role Sri Lanka’s plantation sector and corporate partners can play in conservation. Large, contiguous plantation landscapes have the potential to become important links between remaining natural habitats when areas within them are strategically protected and restored.

For PLANT, this forms part of the wider Emerald Trails vision: working across privately managed landscapes to protect, restore and reconnect habitats for Sri Lanka’s biodiversity.

Read the full story in The Island.