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Author: Wickramasinghe, Kanchana ×

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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Role of Social Protection in Disaster Management in Sri Lanka
    (2015-01-07) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    Sri Lanka has witnessed a striking increase in both the frequency and intensity of natural disasters over the last few decades. Natural disasters have caused human, physical, fi nancial and environmental losses and made substantial impacts on the economy of Sri Lanka. The impacts of natural disasters are not homogeneous across various segments of the society. The distribution of impacts depends on the degree of physical vulnerability of a particular region to natural disasters and the socio-economic vulnerability. The poor, especially those who are dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods, such as farmers and fi shermen are highly vulnerable to the negative impacts of natural disasters. Given the signifi cant economic costs of natural disasters, disaster management issues have received high policy priority. Apart from reducing the physical vulnerability of the population, social protection systems do have an important complementary role in minimizing the effects of natural disasters. Sri Lanka is well-known to have an extensive social protection system. However, the degree to which the present system provides protection against natural disasters remains unexplored. Thus, the present study assesses the degree of protection provided by the present social protection system in Sri Lanka against natural disasters, identifi es gaps in doing so, and thereby suggests suitable recommendations to strengthen the system. The study reveals that the present social protection system in Sri Lanka is not adequate to address the socio-economic vulnerability due to external shocks created by natural disasters. All the disaster-related socio-economic measures in place are highly skewed towards immediate relief, whereas long-term economic well-being of the disaster vulnerable groups has received minor attention. The disaster insurance schemes are also not properly developed and the existing crop insurance schemes show a low coverage. Microfi nance services also do not adequately respond to the needs of the disaster vulnerable groups. The study recommends the need for making reforms in the existing programmes, thereby to suggest better protection against natural disasters without introducing new measures and increasing the complexity of the system.
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    Environmental Management Practices in the Hotel Sector in Sri Lanka: Experience from the Western Province
    (Colombo: Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, 2014-10) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    The study intends to assess environmental management in hotels in Sri Lanka and factors affecting the adoption of environmental management practices.
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    Book Review: Bina Agarwal, Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women's Presence Within and Beyond Community Forestry
    (New Delhi: Sage, 2011) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    In the vast literature on a range of dimensions of forest governance, the facet of gender has received meagre attention. In addition, the nexus between women’s presence and forest governance has been less established through rigorous analysis. Moreover, in the gender and governance literature, the issues addressed are limited in range and there is a lack of empirical verification. In this context, the book titled Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women’s Presence Within and Beyond Community Forestry can be viewed as an immense, novel contribution to the literature and a milestone in the ongoing debate on forest governance, gender, rural energy and political economy. The study is based on a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative assessment using the information collected through the author’s extensive fieldwork in selected areas of India and Nepal.
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    Ecotourism as a Tool for Sustainable Forest Management in Sri Lanka
    (Journal of Environment Professionals Sri Lanka, 2012) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    Deforestation and forest degradation have become serious environmental issues faced by Sri Lanka. Forest management system of Sri Lanka has been based on ‘command and control’ approach, which shows a limited involvement of local communities as stakeholders in forest management. It is vital that the society sees the economic benefits of forest conservation, in order to conservation being more meaningful and long lasting. Forest-based ecotourism, a non-consumptive, market-based approach to forest utilization has received a foremost position, due to its prospective economic and environmental benefits. Through a comprehensive qualitative assessment, the study finds the key constraints and challenges in adopting ecotourism for sustainable forest management as, lack of awareness and understanding on the concept, inadequate coordination, non-compliance to principles and poor interpretation services. It highlights the need for establishing well-coordinated mechanism, assigning clear roles for relevant stakeholders, enhancing private sector participation and establishment of a certification program of ecotourism businesses
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    19th Climate Change Conference: An Assessment
    (2022-11-03) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    COP19 could not come up with an effective and comprehensive set of elements necessary for the international agreement to be prepared in 2015 and implemented in 2020.
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    Book Review: Sustainable Energy in Developing Countries: Policy Analysis and Case Studies
    (New Delhi: Sage, 2007) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    Energy is central to sustainable development and poverty reduction efforts and affects all social, economic and environmental aspects of development. The main objective of this book is to contribute to the resolution of many current energy and environmental policy issues by an objective analytical approach using the tools of environmental economics and cost benefit analysis.
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    Energy Management in Hotel Sector in Sri Lanka: Adoption of good practices
    (Ministry of Power and Energy & University of Sri Jayewardenepura, 2015) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    Energy accounts for a major share of the operational costs in the hotel sector in Sri Lanka. For cost saving and environmental conservation aspects, proper energy management has become an important area that needs policy attention. The present paper aims to assess the level of adoption of energy management practices and to identify the determinants of such adoption. The analysis is based on primary data collected from registered hotels in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. The sample includes 78 hotels. The results indicate that, on average, hotels adopt 3.7 good energy management practices. The adoption of good energy management practices is determined by the hotel characteristics such as number of employees per room, age, chain affiliation, size and customer characteristics such as the origin and the purpose of visit. Policy attention should be particularly on motivating small hotels, independent hotels and newer hotels to adopt good energy management practices.
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    Determinants of Receipts of Environmental Awards and Certifications by Hotels: Experience from the Western Province in Sri Lanka
    (Journal of Environmental Professionals Sri Lanka; Vol. 3 (2), 2014, 2014-12) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    This paper attempts to assess the receipts of environmental awards and certifications by the hotel sector in the Western Province of Sri Lanka and the factors determining such receipts. The assessment is based on primary data collected from the 94 registered hotels in the Western Province, using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Key informant interviews and stakeholder discussions were carried out in formulating the questionnaire. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect required data. The analysis was done using the Probit approach. It shows that nearly 19 percent hotels in the sample have received environmental awards and certifications. According the econometric results, chain affiliation and the luxury level of the hotels are significant determinants of receipts of environmental awards and certifications.
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    Conserving Ecosystem Services and Harnessing the Economic Potential of the Bar Reef
    (Department of Wildlife Conservation, 2014) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana; Senartne, Athula; Rajasuriya, Arjan
    Despite the efforts being made to conserve the Bar Reef, it has come under threat due to growing economic activities in Kalpitiya area. Traditionally, fisheries in the lagoon and surrounding coastal areas were the major livelihoods of local people. In addition limited number of people engaged in diving and collection of sea cucumber, chanks and ornamental fish species. Beyond the coastal zone, commercial agriculture is thriving in inland areas of the Kalpitiya Peninsula. Resource exploitation has increased over the years, and presently there are large number of fishermen and scuba divers harvesting many different species for local consumption and for export. Over-exploitation of living marine resources and habitat destruction due to the use of destructive fishing methods and over-exploitation of sea food resources are major issues.