FOREST HERITAGE AND COMMUNITIES

Sinharaja is both a natural and cultural landscape. Communities living around the rainforest have developed traditions, livelihoods, stories and knowledge systems shaped by their relationship with the forest. Local agriculture, kithul tapping, medicinal plant use, village life, folklore and plantation history all form part of the region’s identity. Within the rainforest there exist connections between people and place, highlighting how cultural heritage, local knowledge and community livelihoods remain closely linked to the conservation and continued survival of the rainforest.