Geospatial Analysis for Assessing the Socioeconomic Conditions in Resettlement Housing Schemes in Siribopura, Hambantota

This study based on GIS analysis is intended to provide an overview of socioeconomic conditions in the resettlement housing scheme established in Siribopura, Hambantota to rehabilitate displaced persons. Several variables such as monthly income, and house and land values were checked for this purpose. Data were gathered from primary and secondary sources. The primary methods were open discussion and questionnaire survey while secondary methods were relevant documentation and websites. Siribopura, which is located in the Hambantota District was the main resettlement area. Majority of people resettled here are those displaced by the tsunami and certain development projects. The variables were checked using discriminate analysis. As per the results, 62.5% or majority of people in the tsunami resettlement area experience a poor quality of life. In the resettlement area set aside for those displaced by the development projects, the majority (90.6%) lead a quality life. Good income generation is the main reason for that. This study makes an important contribution by comparing the socioeconomic lives of the different groups of people and making an assessment about the resettlement project for the benefit of policy makers. Keywords: Discriminate, Development, Rehabilitation, Resettlement, Housin

Spatial modelling of the householders' perception and assessment of the potentiality to improve the urban green coverage in residential areas: A case study from Issadeen Town Matara, Sri Lanka

Urban forestry has become an important concept in modern city planning for many reasons. Different forms of urban green spaces can be seen in towns as open spaces, tree belts, parks and home gardens. The main objective of this research was to assess the urban green spaces in Issadeen Town, a small residential area in Matara, Sri Lanka. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the study area covering a zone with 200 individual houses. The collected data were entered into a Geographical Information System (GIS) platform, taking one house as the unit of analysis. There was a marked difference between the numbers of trees growing in owner-occupied houses and rental houses. It was also assessed that 11% of the study area had good green cover while 8% of this area had medium level green cover that had the potential to rise to a higher category. The occupants of houses who were living in the high green cover areas stated that they had a positive perception about their environment, especially cooler temperatures. Therefore, they intended to maintain the trees in their housing plots. However, there were other occupants accounting 50.5% of the total, who were not interested or involved in the process of increasing the green cover. This is a matter that the authorities may have to address in future

Head-tail disparity in irrigation management in Sri Lanka: A review of empirical evidence

Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) was introduced in the 1990s as a problem-solving mechanism for addressing poor irrigation system performance in many agricultural areas of the world. However, there is some uncertainty as to whether this policy has achieved successful overall irrigation scheme performance in those places where it has been implemented. The emergence of head-tail differences in the water supply along the canal network has frequently resulted in irrigation system failure, causing this issue to become a subject of heated debate among scholars. Sri Lanka is one of the countries that adopted the PIM policy, where it was implemented in 1992. Therefore, this provides the opportunity to find out if head-tail disparity exists in the irrigation schemes of Sri Lanka too, as in other countries. For that reason, this article conducts a review to assess whether a head-tail difference is present or not in Sri Lanka, by determining if the problems and challenges faced by the tail-end farmers are significantly greater compared to those of the farmers in the head reaches. Of the 32 empirical studies on irrigation management done in Sri Lanka, the results of 10 studies suggest a head-tail asymmetry from the socio-economic and technical perspective. This paper identifies the knowledge gap and then provides insights that would help to overcome the existing problems and challenges of head-tail disparity in irrigation management in Sri Lanka