Casuarina coastal forest shelterbelts in Hambantota City, Sri Lanka: Assessment of impacts

The definition of coastal forest shelterbelts in urban landscapes is highly complex. Growing of Casuarina equisetifolia as a small shelterbelt on the beach in Hambantotota City was implemented to protect the beautiful natural sand dunes, preserve visual amenity and be a barrier to seawater salt spray. The casuarina shelterbelt has become popular because it was the only undamaged area in Hambantota City after the devastating 2004 tsunami. The objective of the study was to assess the impacts of the casuarina shelterbelt in economic, social and environmental terms. The city dwellers close to the shelterbelt were interviewed and information collected based on their observations and experiences. According to them, the casuarina shelterbelt has not been able to reduce the wind speed. Although the belt has increased the size of the sand dunes, the casuarina trees have suppressed the growth of native species as an under-storey. The belt has improved the aesthetic value of the beach. No impact of the shelterbelt has been identified in protecting agricultural crops and reducing the corrosion of household goods from seawater salt spay. The city dwellers have not recognized the economic importance of casuarina timber but are impressed with the increase of fuelwood supply from the shelterbelt. The shelterbelt has prevented illegal settlement, but facilitated anti-social and illegal activities of the poor city dwellers. The attractiveness of the beach for tourism has been enhanced. Empirical evidence reveals that the casuarina belt in Hambantota City has greater environmental and social impacts than economic impacts

AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS IN SRI LANKA: A SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT APPROACH

To meet the increasing demands of growing population, Sri Lanka has to increase andsustain agricultural production. At the same time tree component of agriculture hasbecome important for environmental conservation apart from the need for timber, fuel,fodder and non-wood products. Especially for more populated areas, integration of treeswith crops is considered more useful and sustainable for environmental and economicreasons. Though the agro-forestry system in some parts of country is not a new adoption,the scientific and systematic study of this practice on one hand, and development of newmanagement strategies for wider adoption on the other, is relatively new.This paper attempts to discuss the potential of agro-forestry as a sustainable resourcemanagement system for Sri Lanka. Physical factors and government / institutionalvariables are considered as external determinants while personal, socio-economic andsocio-psychological factors of individual farm family contribute as inputs of operation ofthe agro-forestry system. The agro-forestry system makes outputs/results in terms ofsubsistence, cash savings, farm improvements and cash costs for the individual farmfamily. Further, the paper describes the potential for system development throughfeedback, to change possible physical factors of individual farm family; and potentialfeedback, to change government / institutional variables under right political, social andinstitutional conditions.

COMMERCIAL FOREST PLANTATION DEVELOPMENT POLICY SOME MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

In the millennium, the transition of forestry reflecting profound social, economic andinstitutional changes is moving from the state dominant forest management to commercialenterprises, which are oriented towards production forestry. Many countries are undergoingdramatic shift in forest ownership pattern. Hence, the management strategies have to be changedfrom government managed forest to private forest plantation. The strategies should be revised,adapted, updated and communicated to private ownerSri Lanka at present, produce only 90 percent of the estimated wood consumption in the country.The demand is met by over exploiting the forest, which is not sustainable in the longrun.Therefore the forest policy and the forestry sector master plan in 1996 have emphasized thecommercial forest plantation development to produce sufficient industrial and other woods byprivate sector management to cater the increasing demand. At the verge of implementing thenew forest policy, it is vitally important to review the management strategies applicable to thechanging environment.The paper attempts to discuss the following strategies required to achieve successful commercialforest plantations. Boost the availability of suitable land; strengthen the commercial incentiveenvironment and make plantations more profitable and less risky for private investors;Development of a plantation culture among government, growers and the community; andimprove information flows about plantation profitability and prospects.

PROMOTION OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST DEVELOPMENT IN SRI LANKA

Forestry offers many market and non-market benefits of subsistence needs, commercialproduction and environmental services. The forests in Sri Lanka are used by many whilemanaged by a few. Hence, the arrangement to govern the multiple interests and needs ofdifferent stakeholders have to be clearly defined or understood. Otherwise, there will be alittle change in livelihood of forest communities and further degrade the remaining forestresources. The key elements of corporate governance are the transparent and equitablerelationships between stakeholders, accountability and participatory decision making.The papers discuss the problematic issues affecting forest development; the role ofcorporate governance in forest development; and the impacts of improving governanceon sustainable forest development. The major problematic issues are described in termsof the nature of forest resources and the nature of the ownership. The major roles ofcorporate governance are recognized as: the reforms of administrative and political bodythat make and implement forestry and environmental laws; the way these bodiesrepresent and are accountable to forest communities and civil society; and thearrangements that enable forest communities and civil society to enter into dialogue withthe government. The impacts of improving corporate governance would be the balancedpower and decision-making between central government and local government; promotedrelationship between government and forest communities; and developed relationshipswithin the forest communities

GREEN PRODUCTIVITY: AN APPROACH FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF AGRO-FORESTRY IN SRI LANKA.

The agricultural and forest resources in Sri Lanka are diminishing while thepopulation is still growing. Hence, designing of resource-efficient agroforestrysystems has considerable potential not only to improve forest andagricultural production but also to enhance and maintain overall productivityof sustainable small farm units. The different types of agro forestry systemsin the country are highly diverse and complex in characters and functions.However, the productivity of agro-forestry system and the role inenvironmental conservation are lower than their potential due to lack ofproper management practices. Green Productivity (GP) approach emphasizesthe sustainable development of agro-forestry systems enhancing productivityand using resources efficiently while protecting the environment.The paper attempts to discuss the concept, methodology, principle stage,implementation strategies and impact assessment of GP approach with theview of sustainable development of agro-forestry systems in Sri Lanka. TheGP concept emphasizes environmentally sound technology transfer to keepagro forestry systems competitive; environmental regulations to extendfarmers responsibility; and cleaner production enhancing productivity andenvironmental performance of the agro-forestry systems. The methodologyof GP would consist of problem-solving steps, selecting tools, techniques andtechnologies useful for solving problems in agro forestry and application ofsocio-economic and environmental principles and values for agro-forestryimprovements. The six principle stages of GP are described in terms ofgetting started to gain base-line information and identify problems in agroforestrysystems: generation and evaluation of GP options to meet theobjectives and targets of the agro-forestry system: implementation of GPoptions involving performance and the targets being achieved: and sustainingGP through corrective options to achieve objectives and targets of thesustainable agro forestry systems

AGRO·FORESTRY HOME·GARDENS IN KALUTARA DISTRICT A PARTICIPATORY RURAL APPRAISAL (PRA)

Promotion of agro-Iorestry in home-gardens has been greatly emphasized as a nationalpriority. in the new amendments of forest-policy in Sri Lanka. Further, development ofhomestead gardens is one of the major component or the Participatory Forestry Project ofthe Forest Department. Evidently, the home gardens contribute a substantial amount offood, timber, fuel-wood, fodder etc., of the country. In most of these home-gardens, thecanopy cover is dense with a closure of over 75 percent.The total extent of land under the home-gardens in Kalutara District has significantlydecreased during the last decade. However, the remaining home-gardens are a majorsource of food. timber, and fuel-wood required for household consumption. Moreover,exportable products of the perennial agricultural crops, and fruits required to cater theincreasing demand in the tourism are becoming attractive sources of income from the agroforestryhome-gardens in the district. To improve sustainable agro-Iorcstry home-gardens,an assessment of the present agro-forestry home-gardens in the district is essential.Home centred spatial arrangement in agro-Iorestry reflects different interactions amonghousehold, garden. and gardening as well as socio-economics and indigenous resourcemanagement strategies. Hence, the paper discusses the agro-Iorcstry home-gardens inKal utara district based on the data and information collected through Participatory RuralAppraisal (PRA). The PRA administered the main steps and methods: discussions groupmaps. aggregate maps. wealth runkings, transect walks, participatory transects. venndiagrams. direct matrix, pair-wise ranking and scoring.

LOCAL TOURISTS OF RUHUNA (YALA) NATIONAL PARK: ZONAL VISITATION, TRAVEL COST A~ID WILLINGNESS TO PAY

Ruhuna (Yala) National Park, a strict nature reserve which lies on the southern coast of SriLanka, covers 97,878 hectares ofland. The park comprises of secondary forest where manyspecies of mammals, avifauna, reptiles and birds .are living in substantial numbers. ThePark has achieved the international reputation. Evidently, all categories of some 100,000tourists, 70 percent of which are local tourists visit the Park annually. Tourism in asanctuary is both nature based and sustainable, and sustainability incorporatesenvironmental, socio-cultural and economic dimensions. There should be a control ofsupply-oriented management securing the environmental and economic benefits. Thepublic interest and enthusiasm in the Park could be used not only to market the product butalso to conserve the resources. Hence, the study attempted to analyze the local demand ofthe tourists for Ruhuna National Park with the view of improving Ruhuna National Park asan attractive tourist's destination.The local demand of the tourists for Ruhuna National Park is measured as zonal visitationrate, travel cost, and their willingness to pay. The highest visitation rate is recorded fromBadulla (5.6) while the lowest rate is recorded from Matale (2.1) The visitors from Matalehave the highest total travel cost (Rs. 732.50). Hambantota visitors spend Rs. 115.04 as thetotal travel cost. However, the multiple regression analysis shows that the visitation ratewith income, age, educational level and total travel cost excluding the visitors from Mataraand Hambantota districts, is highly correlated (r2 = 0.935). However, the age issignificantly correlated with visitation rate while total travel cost has a significant negativecorrelation with the visitation rate. According to the local visitors, the willingness to payper person per year is calculated as Rs. I l6.41.

Analysis of National Forest Programs for REDD+ Implementation in six South and Southeast Asia countries

Aim of study: To facilitate REDD+ implementation and identify relevant attributes for robust REDD+ policies, this study evaluated and synthesized information from national forest programs in South and Southeast Asian countries.Area of study: Data was collected from six countries: Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines, India and Thailand.Methods: The data sources for the evaluation was an in-depth desk review of relevant documents and focus group discussion among experts from each study country.  Main Results: We found out that diverse factors may influence program feasibility and the ability to achieve ‘triple benefits’: the nature of the forest targeted by the policy, the characteristics of the population affected by the policy, attributes of the policy instrument and the different actors involved.Research highlights: We argue that national policies and programs targeted for REDD+ implementation should focus on the identified features to achieve REDD+ goals.Keywords: policy evaluation; policy instruments; triple benefits; Southeast Asia

Urbanization, Climate Change and Environmental Resilience: Experiences in Sri Lanka

Urbanization in conjunction with climatic change affecting urban life and pose challenges to cities worldwide creating urban residents increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather and other natural disasters. Improvement of urban ecosystems provide cost-effective solution against negative impacts of climate change accelerated with high population pressure and promote resilience of urban dwellers. The cities in Sri Lanka are focused on improving land use planning and management of urban forest ecosystems for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change impacts with the rapid urbanization. This study attempts to ascertain the effects of urbanization, analyze the impacts of urbanization and climate change, and examine the environmental resilience with urban forests in Sri Lanka, reviewing the relevant literature. This paper explore the effects of urbanization in terms of increase population, land use change, rising greenhouse gas emissions and intensity of urban heat island. The impacts of urbanization and climate change are revealed as change of annual rainfall, urban warming, extreme weather events, and urban health hazards. Disaster resilient cities, sustainable urbanization, greening the cities, other environmental resilience strategies as well as institutional and policy setting are discussed for environmental resilience to urbanization and changing climate. Limiting CO2 emission, reducing land surface temperature, and controlling urban heat island effect are discussed under the other environmental resilience strategies. Institutional and policy setting is explained through popularizing urban forestry and developing policy support. Urban forestry strategies incorporating urban planning should be manifested in urban development policy in order to counteract the negative effects of climate change in the process of environmental resilience and sustainable urbanization

Transformation of Traditional Silvo-Pastoral Home-Gardens: A Case Study in Southern Sri Lanka

The Pasture Development Program on silvo-pastoral system in traditional home-gardens in Matara district was commenced with the aim of increasing milk production and income of the small-scale cattle farmers. The objectives of the study were to analyze ecosystem changes, economic trade-offs and social breakthroughs taken place in home-gardens after the program, with the aim of expanding the program coverage. The study was conducted through a field survey interviewing 34 farmers randomly selected from the participants. Tthe farmers have changed the composition of eco-systems in their home-gardens, replaced traditional grasses with CO3 fodder, and removed number of trees disturbing fodder cultivation. They have significantly lost some traditionally cultivated crops and trees due to competition with fodder during dry seasons. The farmers have significantly increased the milk yield per cow, market surplus and income, increased the amount of fodder sufficient to feed their cattle and little market surplus, and gradually adapted to cow-done as organic fertilizer. The social breakthroughs are identified as: reduced risk of conflicts with neighbors and theft of cattle, controlled damages caused by cattle to agricultural crops, reduced time spent on feeding cattle during dry seasons, increased domestic milk consumption, and increased the number of milk collecting centers induced by increased milk production. Although the Pasture Development Program have transformed the traditional home-gardens to improved silvo-pastoral system, community governance yet to be developed in order attract externalities particularly land use planning, technology development and policy support