Paper Title
Contribution From Domestically Grown Forest Plants And Their Parts To The National Economy; Present Trends And Future Possibilities

Abstract
Prior to the industrial revolution, forests, woodlands and trees were used as the main source of land for several economic activities such as cultivation, fuel and energy, products and materials for construction purposes etc. The massive economic contribution forests continue to make to human livelihood, economic development and national income should be appraised. This study also focuses on how forest plants could be used to enhance the economic development by increasing the exportation income of the country with a new source of income generation. Plant domestication refers to an evolutionary process that occurs when humans cultivate wild plants, also modifying them genetically. Over the time people have made several changes to the characteristics of plants such as balants, wheat, corn and etc. to make them more suitable for human use. In addition, in Sri Lanka also many forest plants have been domestically grown during the past. Exportation of such forest produce (legally allowed forest plants exportation) would be a great opportunity for the enhancement of the national economy of Sri Lanka without destroying the natural vegetation of the country. However there have been recent cases where certain plants have been overexploited from natural forests for illegal exportation. There is a great potential that such economically important plants grown as plantation crops and be subjected to value addition before exporting. This study investigatedthe most profitable domestically grown forest plants which could be exported to the foreign market with the aim of increasing the export income of forest plants of the country in the future. The methodology which is used in this study includes data collection through both primary and secondary sources. Two models were developed during the study and two differentcase studies were done to identify special situations relating to forest plant exportation of Sri Lanka. Keywords- Domestically grown forest plants, Forest Plant Exportation, Illegal Forest Plant Exportation, Sustainable Development and Environment, National Income, Value Addition, over exploitation, Genetically Modified Plants