The Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with the Forest Department, has officially gazetted over 1,500 hectares of high-altitude mountain forests and vital water catchment zones across the Nuwara Eliya District as strictly protected conservation reserves.

The newly designated reserves encompass critical cloud forest ecosystems that feed the headwaters of the Kelani, Mahaweli, and Walawe rivers. Environmental authorities emphasized that the protective designation bans commercial clearing, unauthorized agricultural encroachment, and aggressive construction, ensuring the long-term hydrological stability and ecological biodiversity of the central highlands.