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Author: Wickramasinghe, Kanchana ×

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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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    Climate Change, Local Institutions and Adaptation Experience: The Village Tank Farming Community in Dry Zone Sri Lanka
    (International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 2010) Senaratne, Athula; Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    Farmers are in a continuous process of, individually and as community groups, adjusting to the observed variability in climate parameters. Climate shocks are considered by farmers in their decision-making as factors affecting risk and uncertainty, and farmers make their choices so as to minimize such risks. The overall outcome of these individual and community efforts is known as ‘climate adaptation’, which itself is a continuous process. Farmers are traditionally supported by local institutions in this process, which are also currently in a state of transformation. This study examines the climate adaptation responses of the village tank farming community in the dry zone of Sri Lanka in the context of transforming socioeconomic conditions and with the objective of identifying policy implications for adaptation to global climate change. The study was conducted in six Divisional Secretariat areas in the Anuradhapura District of the North Central Province. Both, primary and secondary data was collected in the study. The major sources of primary data included a series of focus group discussions and key informant interviews conducted with village tank farmers and local of ficers. The findings reveal that there are two major forms of voluntary adaptation responses by farmers against climate shocks: 1) aligning of farming activities with the recognized seasonal pattern of rainfall; and 2) management of rain water harvested in commonly owned village tanks. Farmers’ adaptation responses have been facilitated by local institutions that helped to adopt joint adaptation responses. However, recent socioeconomic dynamics introduced by rapid population increase, spread of commercial opportunities and change in agricultural technology have drastically altered conditions in the village tanks in favor of developing a commercial farming system. As a result, local institutions that traditionally facilitated the climatic adaptation responses are also in a state of transition. Therefore, farmers face problems in adapting to the impending risks and uncertainties of global climate change. The paper emphasizes the need for appropriate policy measures to facilitate the adaptive capacity of farmers.
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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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    Commons vs. Commons: Managing Scarce Water Resources in Dry Zone Village Tank Systems in Sri Lanka
    (The Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), 2011-02) Senaratne, Athula; Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    The struggle of village tank farmers in the dry zone of Sri Lanka against rising scarcity of water and land resources strongly highlights the interdependence of local resources under diverse regimes of governance. The significant population in the dry zone that lives under the village tank systems represents one of the most vulnerable community groups in the country. This study attempted to identify technical, institutional, and policy solutions that could provide sustainable answers to the problems faced by the village tank farming community. Physical scarcity is only one aspect of the problem because scarcity is closely influenced by more contentious issues of institutional limitations. The research was conducted in the Anuradhpaura district of the North Central Province in Sri Lanka. The research design included participatory methods of focus group discussions (FGD) and key informant interviews (KII) to gather primary data. Secondary data were collected from various sources, especially from past researches on village tank systems. Findings revealed that temporal scarcity of water and associated problems of managing local resources have been the major challenges that have shaped the evolution of local farming systems and water mana gement strategies. The traditional system evolved to overcome this challenge through the development of a set of social customs and local institutions. These customs and institutions had governed the use of lowland as well as upland resources until recently. However, recent changes such as population growth, government policies, commercialization of local economies, and modernization of agriculture technology have gradually eroded the traditional system. These changes have favored a privately oriented and resource intensive commercial farming system. Such changes have contributed to the collapse of control exerted by traditional system of social customs and local institutions over local resources, especially over the upland component of the farming system. This collapse has led to major environmental problems affecting land and water resources in the village tank systems. Hence, what is needed is a holistic approach of integrated resource management that includes technical, institutional, and policy interventions applied over interdependent systems of local resources. However, the implementation of an integrated mangement practices has to be facilitated by a modified system of local institutional arrangements and appropriate policy interventions designed to create an enabling environment.
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    Adoption of Environmental Management Practices in the Hotel Industry in Sri Lanka
    (2017-01-27) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana
    Environmental management has not received the attention that it deserves in the case of the hotel industry in Sri Lanka although sustainable growth in the industry requires consideration of such practices. Our study assesses the adoption of good environmental management practices in the Sri Lankan hotel industry, focusing on energy, water, solid waste and waste water management. The study is based on data from 78 registered hotels in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. We obtained primary data on the environmental management practices using a pretested structured questionnaire. In addition to the cross-sectional data, we collected panel data on electricity consumption from these hotels for 2009–2013. The results show that the highest number of practices, 3.7 on average, adopted by hotels is in energy management. The average number of water management practices is 2.6. Low adoption rates are observed for waste water and solid waste management practices. The results from Poisson and Probit regression models show that the hotel characteristics and customer characteristics are significant determinants of the adoption of good practices with large hotels, chain-affiliated hotels and classified hotels more likely to adopt them. Analysis of electricity consumption shows that the occupancy rate and involvement of the hotels in environment management projects lead to a reduction in electricity consumption. From a policy perspective, small hotels, independent hotels, and unclassified hotels need to be motivated to adopt good environmental management practices through training, capacity building and financial support.
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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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    Socio-economic Impacts of Forest Conservation on Peripheral Communities: Case of Knuckles National Wilderness Heritage of Sri Lanka
    (12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons, Cheltenham England, July 14-18, 2008, 2008) Wickramasinghe, Kanchana; Steel, Paul; Senaratne, Athula
    Forest conservation generates significant economic benefits to the society. However, the conservation strategies should pay necessary attention to the resultant socio­ economic aspects. Otherwise; conservation efforts affect the welfare of peripheral communities due to restrictions on their livelihoods. The present paper intends to assess the socio-economic impacts of declaration of Knuckles Conservation Zone (KCZ) on the livelihoods of surrounding communities, using data and information collected through a household survey, focus group discussion, interviews and observations. The Knuckles National Wilderness Heritage (NWH) is an important natural forest in Sri Lanka, due to its richness in biodiversity, uniqueness in habitat diversity and being a vital catchment to the main rivers. The forest has greatly been threatened by the promotion of cyltivation of cardamom, which receives high prices in the international market and shifting cultivation that has resulted in a sizeable decrease in the forest cover. With the declaration of KCZ, shifting cultivation and cardamom cultivation were banned and access to forest products was restricted. Consequently, although conservation activities generated considerable environmental improvements, they caused direct negative impacts on the peripheral communities. The quantity and frequency of forest products harvested has declined due to limited access to the forest, causing income losses and affecting food security. The dependency on non timber forest products (NTFPs) as a source of income is much low according to this study finding, but the forest had played a major role as a subsistence source of food, wood, fuel wood etc earlier. The annual income loss due to banning of shifting cultivation and reduced harvesting of NTFPs is estimated around US$ 150 per household. Promotion of ecotourism activities, which are already in place, and creation of proper marketing channels for agricultural products is recognized as alternative ways to increase income, thus to improve the well-being of households. Villagers could also be allowed to harvest selected NTFPs, provided that sustainability of the forest is not affected. Therefore a mechanism should be created that communities are compensated through alternative income sources rather than depending on monetary compensations from the government thereby setting a useful example for the future conservation strategies of the country and elsewhere.
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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.