OFF-GRID, COMMUNITY-BASED DENDROTHERMAl POWER GENERATION A ViABLE OPTION FOR CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM

Sri Lanka has taken various measures to implement Ole United Nations Framework Conventionon Climate Change within the country. Clean development mechanism (CDM) provides aframework for participation of developing countries in mitigating climatic effects. In CDM, adeveloped country will implement and finance a project that reduces or mitigates greenhouse gas(carbon dioxide) emissions in a developing country, for which the developed country partywould get Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), certifying the emissions reduced from theCDM project. Such a CDM project would help the developing country in achieving itssustainable development goals, and the country can a lso profit by selling any carbon avoided bythe CDM project to the developed country partyIn Sri Lanka, power sector is a potential sector for CDM, due to high carbon emissionsassociated with thermal power generation. Since Sri Lanka has almost reached its maximumhydropower potential, the country needs to consider having more thermal and renewable energyoptions in the power sector. One potential, relatively cheap renewable option is dendrothermalpower generation. Power generation using biomass collected from energy plantations could beconsidered as a suitable renewable option, especially in remote areas, where power supply fromthe national grid is not easy. Such energy plantations can be successfully grown and maintainedby the communities in rural Sri Lanka, and it has a high potential as a means of povertyeradication and employment generation in those areas. Energy plantations also improve soilquality and nutrient cycling within the ecosystem.Dendrothermal power generation is considered carbon neutral, as carbon emitted during powergeneration is absorbed by the energy plantations in photosynthesis. If a certain percentage of theplanned thermal power (coal) generation in future e-m be replaced with dendrothermal powergeneration, the country can profit by selling the avoided carbon in shifting to dendrothermalpower. Therefore dendrothermal power generation satisfies the criteria relevant to CDM. Thisstudy economically analyses the feasibility of havir ..g off-grid dendrothermal power generationas a potential CDM option, while evaluating socio-economic and other benefits associated withit.The study showed that the unit cost of dendrothermal power generation (US cts. 4.68) is slightlyhigher than that of coal (US cts. 4.34), but the country can significantly profit if the avoidedcarbon is sold at a reasonable price. Hence the study clearly shows that dendrothermal powergeneration is a viable option for CDM.

CAN ECO·BUSINESS PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT

In a 'Sustainable' society there should not be any particular business called 'cco-husinexs'.hut all human endeavours should he ceo-friendly. Since converuionul approaches to achievesustainahility through command and control mechanism have failed. world i~ nowheginning to adopt more voluntary approaches that are generally skewed towards economicinstruments. Eco-busincsx is one of the major strategies that harnesses the economic powerthestrength of investors. consumers. husiness and the market place. to create anenvironmentally rcsponsihlc and socially just societyThough this concept is believed to have a lot of advantages. there is a danger that it can hemanipulated hy extremists. both environmentalists and developers. to achieve their strategicgoals. On one hand. environmentalists may follow an extreme ccocentric approach andexpect ceo-business to he absolutely free from environmental impacts, which may not heeconomically viable. On the other hand. industrialists may fall in line or have some linkwith the green perspective in order to derive a strategic advantage. But. in effect. such astrategy may become questionable since their participation is not on genuine grounds. Boththese may lead to the collapse of the concept.The challenge of the promotion of ceo-business is to identify ways and means that render itsown sustainahility without falling into the extreme non-viable ends. This becomes difficultsince the problem of clarifying the margins of environmentally-friendly goods and servicesIS yet unsolved. Furthermore. in the case of Sri Lanka. there is no sound institutionalframework that can absorb ceo-business to the existing economic system.This paper attempts to present a precise definition of ceo-business and investigate the use ofthe ceo-business concept as a pragmatic approach to protect the environment throughpromoting ceo-business capable of bringing about a balance between the two competingforces. viz.. the industrialist's relentless pursuit to maximize profits as against thepreservation of the natural environment. It also discusses the extent to which the ceobu-iucs« concept is applicable to Sri Lanka. and the loopholes that exist in the existingregulating mechanisms. Finally. it presents a framework for implementation.The paper claims that the introduction of 'student-owned and operated companies' (in theschool system) is an effective means of promoting the 'Environmentally-friendly Business'concept in Sri Lanka. A step-by-step /IIOe/IIS operendi of the student-owned companies i~presented in order 10 test the framework. Market potential of ceo-products. particularly theconsumer preference is presented based on data derived from a sample survey

CAN ENVIRONMENT OR DEVELOPMENT STAND-ALONE AN ANALYSIS OF THE PATH TO INTEGRATE ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

The struggle 10 overcome the accelerating socio-economic and political problems in SriLanka seems to be even more difficult in the face of increasingly apparent environmentalconstraints. There is a growing belief that most development activities are hindered orterminated due to environmental reasons. Often. the environmental authorities are blamedfor such obstructions. The 1992 'Earth Summit' succeeded in altering the conscience of theworld towards environmentally sustainable development with the message that withoutbetter environmental stewardship, development will be undermined. and without accelerateddevelopment in poor countries. environmental policies will fail. However. many conceptualand technical questions in achieving sustainable development still remain unanswered. Acritical question for policy makers thus is whether the environmental aspects of socioeconomicdevelopment can be alleviated by modifying existing approaches, or a completenew strategy is required.This paper discusses the ideologies distributed along the spectrum of 'neo-Malthusian'pessimists (those who believed that it is very likely that human industrial civilization willcollapse under the weight of growing consumption of resources. growing human populationand increased environmental pollution) at one end. and the 'cornucopians' or thetechnological optimists on the other end. The paper attempts to merge these ideologies andseck for a more holistic approach to accelerate economic growth while addressingenvironmental challenges, and also to propose institutional mechanisms to integrateenvironmental concerns in the development policies and long term planning.To address the aforementioned issues the Ministry of Forestry and Environment hasintroduced several measures including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).Committees on Environmental policy and Management (CEPOM) and Committee onIntegrating Environment and Development Policy (CIEDP). However, the EIA process hasits own weaknesses and is being heavily criticized by investors as well as environmentalists.CEPOM and CIEDP Structures were proposed to reduce the conflict between developmentand environment. However. this mechanism is still in its infancy. The paper provides avigorous review on the existing mechanisms available for integrating environment anddevelopment towards sustainable development objectives. It also aucmpts to introducepossible policy initiatives to improve the existing situation.

POTENTIAL OF ORGANIC TEA PRODUCTION IN SRI LANKA AS A MEASURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN UP COUNTRY

Promotion of organic farming has been widely accepted as a panacea for emergingenvironmental problems such as land degradation and surface water pollution. Being anagricultural country Sri Lanka has large potential for organic industry. Tea itself contributes to13% of export earnings in Sri Lanka. Around 180,000 ha of land is presently under teacultivation. Conventional tea cultivation practice that use a massive amount of syntheticchemicals has raped the natural environment in the lip country and is reported to have affectedthe health of human beings and other living organisms. Considering these adverse effectsorganic tea cultivation has been introduced which uses zero level of inorganic chemicals.However financial profitability of organic tea cultivation has not been proven in the localcontext.Therefore the objective of this study was to find 0'11 the financial profitability of organic teacultivation in Sri Lanka in comparison to conventional tea cultivation. The study was conductedusing data obtained from Needwood Estate, Haldummulla, Financial analysis was carried out tomeasure the profitability using both primary data through interviews with managerial persons ofestates and secondary data from TRI publications. Availability of institutional framework topromote the organic tea cultivation was also evaluatedResult of this analysis implies that the benefit cost ratio of conventional tea is 2.41 while thebenefit cost ratio of organic tea is 3.13. Hence financial profitability of organic tea cultivation ishigh in compared to conventional tea cultivation. Main reason for the higher profitability oforganic tea is due to higher price offered for organic [Ca.Therefore price sensitivity analysis wasundertaken to investigate the impact of price changes. Results show that the profitability oforganic tea is not so price sensitive and it changes only with a sharp price drop below 23% of thecurrent price.The study found that the absence of Institutional framework to promote organic tea is one of theproblems for not improving organic tea production in Sri Lanka. Therefore it is recommended toestablish a separate organic product promotion unit within the Ministry of Environment tofacilitate promotion of organic production in the corntry including tea, Ministry of Plantation,Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Media should play an active role andwork jointly with Ministry of Environment for this. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs andMinistry of Trade should playa major role in exploring international market opportunities fororganic tea, which is the key factor for the successful organic tea industry in Sri Lanka

OFF-GRID, COMMUNITY-BASED DENDROTHERMAl POWER GENERATION A ViABLE OPTION FOR CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM

Sri Lanka has taken various measures to implement Ole United Nations Framework Conventionon Climate Change within the country. Clean development mechanism (CDM) provides aframework for participation of developing countries in mitigating climatic effects. In CDM, adeveloped country will implement and finance a project that reduces or mitigates greenhouse gas(carbon dioxide) emissions in a developing country, for which the developed country partywould get Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), certifying the emissions reduced from theCDM project. Such a CDM project would help the developing country in achieving itssustainable development goals, and the country can a lso profit by selling any carbon avoided bythe CDM project to the developed country partyIn Sri Lanka, power sector is a potential sector for CDM, due to high carbon emissionsassociated with thermal power generation. Since Sri Lanka has almost reached its maximumhydropower potential, the country needs to consider having more thermal and renewable energyoptions in the power sector. One potential, relatively cheap renewable option is dendrothermalpower generation. Power generation using biomass collected from energy plantations could beconsidered as a suitable renewable option, especially in remote areas, where power supply fromthe national grid is not easy. Such energy plantations can be successfully grown and maintainedby the communities in rural Sri Lanka, and it has a high potential as a means of povertyeradication and employment generation in those areas. Energy plantations also improve soilquality and nutrient cycling within the ecosystem.Dendrothermal power generation is considered carbon neutral, as carbon emitted during powergeneration is absorbed by the energy plantations in photosynthesis. If a certain percentage of theplanned thermal power (coal) generation in future e-m be replaced with dendrothermal powergeneration, the country can profit by selling the avoided carbon in shifting to dendrothermalpower. Therefore dendrothermal power generation satisfies the criteria relevant to CDM. Thisstudy economically analyses the feasibility of havir ..g off-grid dendrothermal power generationas a potential CDM option, while evaluating socio-economic and other benefits associated withit.The study showed that the unit cost of dendrothermal power generation (US cts. 4.68) is slightlyhigher than that of coal (US cts. 4.34), but the country can significantly profit if the avoidedcarbon is sold at a reasonable price. Hence the study clearly shows that dendrothermal powergeneration is a viable option for CDM.