A study about ecosystem services in Yala national park

Abstract

Forests are essential to life on earth. The forest ecosystem provides great services for market value and human quality of life. Sri Lanka's second national forest, Yala National Park, is a forest ecosystem that is home to many ecological services. However, there is little public awareness of these services, which in turn have adverse human activities in the forest, and at present, the forest ecosystem is facing many threats. The research aims at protecting the ecosystem by educating the community on the services provided by the forest to the animal and plant community. A sample of 10 local tourists, 10 foreign tourists and 15 people from Gonangara and Konkatiya Grama Niladhari Division located in Yala national park were selected as the primary data under the simple random sampling method. Primary data were collected through direct and indirect observations and structured questionnaire and interview system under observation. Research papers, magazines, and data from the Wildlife Office were collected under secondary data. Data analyse was performed using the MS Excel, ArcGIS software and tables, maps and graphs were used to present the data. According to the opinion of the community and tourists, the Yala national park comprises manufacturing services, regulatory services such as Climate control, carbon regulation and education, recreation services which are essential services to mankind. Transforming forest service awareness into the community, enforcing new laws, creating sustainable tourism can reduce forest impacts and provide sustainable forest services.