President Maithripala Sirisena in his capacity as Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment has proposed the implementation of the method prepared with the consent of the officials from the Department of Forest Conservation, the Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Biodiversity Secretariat to enforce necessary actions for the conservation of the Gyrinops walla plant, popularly known in Sri Lanka as the ‘Walla patta’ which has been included in the Red List or Endangered Species List prepared in 2012 while allowing the possession and transportation of this plant on a commercial basis based on permits issued by the respective authorities.

Walla patta is a medium-tall tree which grows up to 15 m in height and due to its fibrous nature its bark was used as a binding material by villagers in the past.

Until recently, Gyrinops walla (Walla patta) did not posses any commercial value and therefore villagers did not want to keep this tree in their home gardens. However, after mid-2012, it suddenly became famous due to large-scale smuggling attempts by both locals and foreigners due to the tree possessing agarwood resins used in the manufacture of cosmetics and perfumes.

Dr. Upul Subasinghe of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and his team pioneered the identification of evidences for the first time in producing agarwood in Walla patta. Their preliminary studies have proven that the quality of agarwood produced by Walla patta is strongly similar to those available in the market.