In modern economics, land is broadly defined to include all that nature provides, including minerals, forest products, and water and land resources. While many of these are renewable resources, no one considers them “inexhaustible” - Britannica
by Raj Gonsalkorale, Janendra De Costa and Vijith Gunawardena
This is an introductory article, the first of five, on issues that impact on sustainable land management in Sri Lanka. These articles were prompted by the populist misinformation peddled by politicians and their cohorts that whatever they have done as land management has been to ensure food security in the country and for ‘development’ projects while encouragingforeign direct investment. This is a totally misguided and disingenuous propaganda as land management practiced in many instances have been purely for short term profit, compromising the very essence of environmental security and long-term sustainable development. These articles will demonstrate the ill effects to the environment and its biosecurity because of policies followed so far and how irreparable it can be and has been to the country’s environment and land sustainability. They will also emphasize the urgent need to develop a coherent land management policy via a process of broad stakeholder consultation along with a strong institutional and legislative framework for its effective implementation.
In developing a futuristic, sustainable land management policy, many factors that impact on land managementmust be taken into consideration. Amongst all such factors, climate change rates as one the major long-term factor that needs to be considered. It is the overarching factor that affects the entire Earth not just Sri Lanka, but its impact maybe mitigated to some degree if measures are taken by every country including Sri Lanka to lessen this impact. Not doing so will subject future generations to great peril and they will no doubt blame the present generation for their inaction. Political expediency, short term gain, unbridled avarice, and not having the intelligence to see beyond their noses have stood in the way of taking necessary action. Politicians of all persuasions have been and still are at the top of this murky heap.
The complexity of climate change and the factors that brings it about need to be understood first to bringing in mitigatory factors. Some factors that affect climate change are phenomenabeyond man’s control, but some key ones are within the ambit of man as they have been created and worsened by man.
This series of articles looks at the situation in Sri Lanka and the factors that have and are contributing to climate change and the sustainability of land, not just to sustain mankind but to sustain the entire environment that in turn sustains human beings and all other living things including plants. The following topics will be covered
• Demographic factors and impact on land
• Effective and efficient use of land
• Water resources and the state of water quality
• Wildlife and forest protection, biodiversity, waste management and renewable energy development
• Climate change, itsimpact, and implications on land management policy
These articles will hopefully lead to ideas for a long-term policy framework that takes in the key aspects associated with land and which are integral to sustainability of land. It is hoped that these articles and the ideas presented will be the subject of discussion and debate amongst the public and all key stakeholders who are critical to the eventual formulation of a policy.
It is also hoped that the media will provide the platforms that are needed for constructive, futuristic discussions on the formulation of a policy that will sustain many future generations.
As a matter of interest, to demonstrate the futuristic thinking of the country’s ancient rulers, it is interesting to note that as per the table shown below, 74.8% of the reservoir areas in the country have been classified as “ancient”*, demonstrating that the country should owe its gratitude to the country’s ancient rulers for providing this resource to the generations that followed them and to the present, and future generations too. In this context, one must question whether less ancient rulers have contributed in a comparable manner and whether they entirely relied on the work of their ancestors to sustain agriculture and therefore the people of the country.
*(Source: MENR and UNEP 2009 -http://www.wepa-db.net/policies/state/srilanka/overview.htm)
Estimated reservoir areas in Sri Lanka
These articles will not be presented as academic exercises but as material that would hopefully generate an interest and a discussion that would lead to a better understanding on factors that impact on land management. It is hoped that such an understanding will lead to planners and decision makers realising the need for a long term, inclusive policy on land management.
What is the biggest threat to sustainable land management?
The biggest threat to sustainable land management comes from the belief that land is infinite, that it is a stand-alone resource with no interdependencies and that it can be bent to the will of human beings. The wider and deeper meaning of “land” would be best summed up by the saying “we are the land, and land is all of us and everything around us. Land nourishes us and sustains us. We must nourish and sustain the land, if not, we will perish along with the land”. This sense of infiniteness, coupled with hardly an understanding as to what biodiversity means, forms the twin overriding threats to the future of sustainable land management.
ProfessorDavid Macdonald of the Oxford University describes biodiversity as the variety of life on Earth, in all its forms and all its interactions. If that sounds bewilderingly broad, that’s because it is. Biodiversity is the most complex feature of our planet and it is the most vital. “Without biodiversity, there is no future for humanity.” Biodiversity will be discussed in more detail in another article.
Aborigenes and their approach to land management
Aborigenes, defined by the Collins dictionary as the original inhabitants of a country or region who has been there from the earliest known times, were the opposite of today’s human kind when it came to sustainable land management. The journal Science Daily in an article published on the 5th November 2019 on the Aborigenes experience in Australia (What we can learn from Indigenous land management- Lessons from first nations governance in environmental management) states, quote “as large-scale agriculture, drought, bushfire and introduced species reduce entire countries' biodiversity and long-term prosperity, Indigenous academics are calling for a fresh look at the governance and practices of mainstream environmental management institutions”. The article goes on to saythat Aboriginal Australians' world view and connection to Country provide a rich source of knowledge and innovations for better land and water management policies when Indigenous decision-making is enacted, the researchers say.
Incorporating more of the spirit and principles of Aboriginal and other First Nations people's appreciation and deep understanding of the landscape and its features has been overlooked or sidelined in the past - to the detriment of the environment.
A common feature amongst Aborigenes throughout the world on what they identified as “Land” was that they, along with other living species, plants, and animals, and very essentially water, fire, their spirits, were a whole, inseparable from the different parts, and therefore interdependent.
To be continued
The authors: Raj Gonsalkorale, MBA, International Management Consultant, Janendra De Costa, BSc (Agric) PhD, Senior Professor and Chair of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Vijith Gunawardena, BA, Land Management Practitioner
Post a Comment