The Neo Synthesis Research Centre (NSRC) was founded in 1982. We were a group of friends concerned about the institutional approach to forest management.  At that time, the Sri Lanka Forest Department’s focus, guided by international funding, was on establishing monoculture plantations of exotic tree species such as Pinus and Eucalyptus to afforest abandoned government owned lands in the highlands. From our point of view these monocultures were ecological deserts compared to Sri Lanka’s species-rich tropical forests. Meanwhile farmers in neighboring villages had been growing species diverse, forest-like, home gardens for many generations.  There was a significant disconnect between the forest department models for land management and local knowledge and lived experience on the land that provided a strong basis for both biodiversity conservation and human livelihoods.  We drew inspiration from the farmers and from Upali Senanayake’s example of working with communities to address change locally.

1982 -1997 Research in the Central Highlands

In 1982 Dr. Ranil Senanayake, a Sri Lankan ecologist and Dr. Jerry Moles, an American anthropologist/ecologist started a research station on Dr. Senanayake’s 14-acre tea estate at Mirahawatta in the Uva Basin.  For the next 15 years, Senanayake and Moles, along with a number of other researchers, graduate students and interns carried out: 

  • Botanical research – inventories of remnant forest patches in the Uva Basin and beyond, seed collecting and germination of native forest plant species (e.g., trees, shrubs, lianas, ferns); establishment of an arboretum of species.
  • Wildlife research – faunal surveys especially of birds, frogs, and butterflies in the surrounding wild and managed landscapes.
  • Agricultural and agroforestry research in managed agricultural lands used to grow tea, mixed species forest gardens, paddy, and vegetable crops.
  • Interviews with village farmers exploring their knowledge of land management, farming practices, home gardens and agroforestry systems. 
  • Development of the analog forestry theory which calls for patterning agroforestry enrichment and livelihood enhancement on the structure and ecological function of natural forests for watershed and biodiversity conservation.
  • Policy and publicity work to promote NSRCs approaches to forest and biodiversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, and agroforestry. 

1998 to 2004 Initiation of extension of NSRC methods with farmers

Development of analog forestry methodology as an applied praxis for forest and watershed restoration, agroforestry, and regenerative agriculture extension to farmers. NSRC staff led by Executive Director, Dr. Kamal Melvani worked on several projects in several Sri Lanka agroecological zones with varying topography, elevation, soils, rainfall, and biodiversity. Their first major project involved 525 farmers and was undertaken in collaboration with partner organisations mainly Future in our Hands Foundation. Several other smaller projects followed, of which some have been monitored over decades of time. Our measures of success have always been elimination of erosion, improvements in soil and water quality and availability, healthy diets and greater food security, adequate incomes to meet household needs for farmers, and protection of native biodiversity.  Coupled with these measures we work toward increased capacity of communities to empower themselves in meeting shared needs.  With a ‘holistic approach, NSRC addresses all of these goals in a stepwise progression. 

2004 to 2012, Developing new research stations and expanding extension.

  • In 2004, the ownership of the land on which we had developed our research station at Mirahawatta in the Uva Basin was transferred and we sought a new home.  At this time Dr. Melvani continued as Executive Director of NSRC with Dr. Jerry Moles as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
  • The Lemastota Research Station, a 15-acre former tea estate in the Intermediate Zone of the highlands was acquired in 2004.  
  • In the same year, the landowner of a former coconut plantation in the Intermediate Zone of the West Coast agreed to host our Serukele research station.
  • Many watershed restoration and agroforestry extension projects were initiated beginning in this time, including Maragalakanda, Hulu Ganga, and Kalpitiya at the time.
  • In 2005 NSRC began working on the East Coast in Kalmunai to assist in relief and recovery in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.  Besides working with Kalmunai residents to distribute emergency water and food and to rebuild homes, NSRC focused on home garden development for food security.  Work on the coastal forest bioshield started in 2005 that was implemented and managed by members mobilised into 34 community groups.
  • NSRC extended its outreach programmes to Alayadivembu along the east coast and inland to Siyambalanduwa in 2011. The work undertaken here and in other areas of Sri Lanka dry agroecological zone were described in the Handbook for Regenerative Agriculture published in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, and distributed to thousands of Sri Lankan farmers associated with the community groups established by the Irrigation Department and Sri Lanka’s National Water Supply and Drainage Board.  

2013 – 2025, Field Research and extension

Dr. Melvani’s dissertation research on forest gardens and farmer livelihoods in the Intermediate zone of Sri Lanka at Charles Darwin University, Australia was completed in 2019. Several published journal articles from this research can be accessed from the Publications page of this website. 

  • NSRC Activities in Sri Lanka slowed due to travel restrictions under the COVID pandemic and are now underway again. 
  • Currently NSRC’s work at Serukele includes establishing a demonstration model for climate change adaptation, biological mitigation of landslides at Lemastota. They have revived the demonstration model for the bioremediation of ground water at Kalpitiya that aims to distribute potable wate to 600 families in the Nawakkaduwa village.
  • NSRC has now been commissioned by the international NGO World Vision to rehabilitate cloud forest restoration in 6 watershed areas located in the Hatton area.

Upali Senanayake led the National Heritage Trust in Sri Lanka which in the early 1960s contributed to increasing national paddy yields by incorporating school children to participate in the weeding component of paddy production.