The Sri Lanka Air Force under the guidance of the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana together with the Forest Conservation Department and the University of Peradeniya instigated the third wave of seed bombing at Lahugala Kitulana National Park in the Ampara area today (16 December 2020). The Command Agro Unit at SLAF Base Katunayake under the leadership of Air Commodore Suharshi Fernando and the Forest Conservation Department organized this mission to achieve the aim of improving the forest density of Sri Lanka in order to reach the sustainable development goals of the country by increasing the forest cover from 27% to 32% by the year 2030.

The first wave of the mission was executed at Ranorawa government forest in a five acres land area and approximately 5,000 seed bombs were released. During the second wave 67,000 seed bombs were dropped over a 60 acres area inside the forest of Lahugala in Ampara. Embarking on the third wave of the mission which was accomplished this morning, the dropping was carried out with approximately 30,000 seed bombs in a 25 acres land area within the Lahugala Kitulana National Park covering deforested locations.

As in all previous operations, the seed bombs were dropped using a MI-17 Helicopter which departed from SLAF Station Ampara. The bombs comprised from 6 types of native trees, Ehela (Cassia fistula), Mee (Madhuca longifolia), Kumbuk (Terminalia arjuna), Mara (Albizzia lebbek), Bulu (Terminalia belerica), Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) suited to Dry Zone.    

The MI-17 helicopter which was utilized for today’s operation was captained by Flight Lieutenant KDAR Maduraka while the Co-Pilot was Flight Lieutenant MRB Thibbotumunuwe. The Command Agro Officer, Air Commodore Fernando also participated for the Seed Bombing Operation on board the Helicopter.