Nomination of The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka: Its Cultural and Natural Heritage for inscription on the World Heritage List Submitted to UNESCO by the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 1 January 2008 Nomination of The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka: Its Cultural and Natural Heritage for inscription on the World Heritage List Submitted to UNESCO by the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 1 January 2008 Contents Page Executive Summary vii 1. Identification of the Property 1 1.a Country 1 1.b Province 1 1.c Geographical coordinates 1 1.e Maps and plans 1 1.f Areas of the three constituent parts of the property 2 1.g Explanatory statement on the buffer zone 2 2. Description 5 2.a Description of the property 5 2.a.1 Location 5 2.a.2 Culturally significant features 6 PWPA 6 HPNP 7 KCF 8 2.a.3 Natural features 10 Physiography 10 Geology 13 Soils 14 Climate and hydrology 15 Biology 16 PWPA 20 Flora 20 Fauna 25 HPNP 28 Flora 28 Fauna 31 KCF 34 Flora 34 Fauna 39 2.b History and Development 44 2.b.1 Cultural features 44 PWPA 44 HPNP 46 KCF 47 2.b.2 Natural aspects 49 PWPA 51 HPNP 53 KCF 54 3. Justification for Inscription 59 3.a Criteria under which inscription is proposed (and justification under these criteria) 59 3..b Proposed statement of outstanding universal value 80 3.b.1 Cultural heritage 80 3.b.2 Natural heritage 81 3.c Comparative analysis 84 3.c.1 Cultural heritage 84 PWPA 84 HPNP 85 KCF 86 3.c.2 Natural Heritage 86 3.d Integrity and authenticity 89 3.d.1 Cultural features 89 PWPA 89 HPNP 90 KCF 90 3.d.2 Natural features 91 4. State of Conservation and Factors Affecting the Property 95 4.a Present state of conservation 95 4.a.1 PWPA 95 4.a.2 HPNP 97 4.a.3 KCF 98 4.b Factors affecting the property 98 (i) Development pressures 98 PWPA 98 HPNP 100 KCF 100 (ii) Environmental pressures 100 PWPA 100 HPNP 100 KCF 101 (iii) Natural disasters and risk preparedness 101 (iv) Visitor/tourism pressures 101 PWPA 101 HPNP 101 KCF 101 (v) Number of inhabitants within the property and the buffer zone 102 PWPA 102 HPNP 102 KCF 102 5. Protection and Management of the Property 103 5.a Ownership 103 PWPA 103 HPNP 103 KCF 103 5.b Protective legislation 103 PWPA 103 HPNP 103 iv KCF 104 5.c Means of implementing protective measures 104 5.d Existing plans related to municipality and region in which the proposed property is located 104 5.e Property management plan or other management system 105 5.f Sources and levels of finance 105 5.g Sources expertise and training in conservation and management techniques 105 5.h Visitor facilities and statistics 106 PWPA 106 HPNP 106 KCF 106 5.i Policies and programmes related to the presentation and promotion of the property 107 5.j Staffing levels (professional, technical, maintenance) 107 6. Monitoring 109 6.a Key indicators for measuring state of conservation 109 6.a.1 PWPA 109 6.a.2 HPNP 111 6.a.3 KCF 112 6.b Administrative arrangements for monitoring the property 114 6.c Results of previous reporting exercises 114 7. Documentation 7.a Photographs, slides, image inventory and authorization table and other audiovisual material See Appendix 4 7.b Texts relating to protective designation, copies of property management plans or documented management systems and extracts of other plans relevant to the property 117 7.c Form and date of most recent records or inventory of the property 117 7.d Addresses where inventory, records and archives are held 117 7.c Bibliography 118 8. Contact information of responsible authorities 131 8.a Preparer – name, title, address, city, telephone, fax, e-mail 131 8.b Official local institution/agency 131 8.c Other local institutions 132 8.d Official web address: http://, contact name, e-mail 132 9. Signature on behalf of the state Party 132 10. Maps 133 Appendix 1 Indigenous plant species 143 Appendix 2 Faunal species 165 Appendix 3 Explanatory note on System of Management 191 Appendix 4 Image inventory and photograph and audiovisual 201 authorization form ` v Abbreviations BP before present CBO Community based organization CF Conservation Forest dbh diameter at breast height DWLC Department of Wildlife Conservation FD Forest Department FFPO Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance HPNP Horton Plains National Park IUCN The World Conservation Union KCF Knuckles Conservation Forest MOE Ministry in charge of the Environment msl mean sea level NARESA Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority (now the National Science Foundation) NSF National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka PAM & WLC Protected area management and wildlife conservation project PW Peak Wilderness PWNR Peak Wilderness Nature Resrve PWPA Peak Wilderness Protected Area PWS Peak Wilderness Sanctuary WCMC The World Conservation Monitoring Centre vi Executive Summary State Party The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, generally shortened to Sri Lanka (formerly, Ceylon) State, Province or Region Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces of Sri Lanka Name of Property The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka: Its Cultural and Natural Heritage Geographical coordinates This is a serial property, comprising three constituent parts, whose coordinates (of their central points) are as follows: Peak Wilderness Protected Area (PWPA): 600 48' 04 96” N 80 37' 31 13” E Horton Plains National Park (HPNP): 600 48' 22 07” N 80 47' 47 55”E Knuckles Conservation Forest (KCF): 700 27' 08 82” N 80 48' 07 56” E Textualdescription of the boundaries PWPAand HPNP are contiguous, both forming part of the Central Massif. KCF is located in the Knuckles Massif which is separated from the Central Massif by a low-lying plateau. PWPA The boundary of PWPA includes the outer boundaries of the Peak Wilderness Nature Reserve, the Peak Wilderness Conservation Forest, the Walawe Basin Conservation Forest and the Morahela Conservation Forest, and, in its eastern extension, it has a common boundary with HPNP. The boundary of the Peak Wilderness Nature Reserve has been defined by notification in the government gazette under the provisions of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. The boundaries of the three conservation forests have been defined by notification in the government gazette under the provisions of the Forest Ordinance. HPNP The boundary has been defined in the government gazette notification declaring this area a national park under the provisions of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. KCF The boundary has been defined in the government gazette notification declaring this area a conservation forest under the provisions of the Forest Ordinance. A4 size maps of the nominated property showing the boundaries and buffer zones where present These are included in the main text. Justification The three constituents of this serial property possess features of outstanding universal value in both the cultural and natural spheres. It is being nominated for inscription as a Mixed World Heritage Cultural values The development of Adam's Peak withinPWPA , as a religious monument, is linked to Sri Lanka's ancient civilization where the ruling monarchs, while building thousands of reservoirs to store water and provide the people with sustainable living conditions, also placed great emphasis on promoting religious values. PWPA, with the focus on what is believed to be the footprint of Lord Buddha atop the mountain, has a cultural heritage that dates back to the pre-Christian era. The cultural cum religious traditions and beliefs associated with Adam's Peak have continued in an almost unbroken chain till the present day. Many kings who have reigned since the 11th centuryAD have lent their patronage to this religious monument and it is recorded that some of the monarchs had climbed the mountain to worship at the shrine. Marco Polo, in the 13th century, and theArab traveler Ibn Batuta, in the 14th century, have visited the peak and recorded their observations. Long prior to that the Buddhist traveler monk Fa Hien in his book Travels in India and Ceylon (393-414 AD) records his visit toAdam's Peak and his interpretation of the origin of the foot print. At the present time around two million people, the great majority of them being pilgrims, climb the mountain every year. Numerous traditional practices, some of them many centuries old, are performed by the pilgrims, many of them while being engaged in the arduous climb to the peak. The mountain is also associated with the deity Saman who is said to be the custodian of this area, and many religious practices are associated with paying homage to this deity. These beliefs and practices have an equally long tradition as the worship of the footprint. HPNP presents a cultural landscape of a different kind. Studies in many parts of Sri Lanka had revealed that Mesolithic man, calledHomo sapiens balangodensis , the progenitors of Sri Lanka's aboriginal people theveddas , had occupied many different parts of the country. Archaeological investigations extended to the relatively undisturbed sites in Horton Plains, a high elevation tableland (> 2000 m above msl), where soil cores were extracted from depths of up to six metres, have revealed a remarkable sequence of cultural practices of pre- historic man in this area. Archaeological and palaeo-ecological evidence based on radio- carbon dated multiproxy data (on pollen, spores, diatoms, phytoliths), organic carbon, total carbon, etc. reveal the presence of humans in this area from around 24,000 years up to 3600 years before present. During this long period, starting with forest clearing and burning and the hunter forage culture, he advanced to incipient agriculture with the growing of oat and barley and later still to farming with rice.