Sustainable human settlements for future dry zone of Sri Lanka

Objectives

Desertification and Groundwater

To develop long term goals and a road map to achieve the SDG goal numbers 11,13,15 and 16 by addressing desertification and groundwater degradation happening in dry zone areas due to settlement schemes and encroaching catchment areas of reservoirs for agricultural, industrial, commercial and settlement schemes

Land use planning division of the Ministry of Environment and wildlife resources, developed many approaches and policy initiatives to address land degradation due to unplanned exploitation of land resources for agricultural, industrial, commercial and residential purposes, giving priorities to mitigate environmental issues confronted by Sri Lankan community settlement schemes, especially in primary producing areas.

Further to that, ministry is currently planning to work collaboratively with relevant authorities to address the groundwater degradation and desertification issues caused by past, existing and already planned settlement schemes. In this context, ministry is planning to investigate sociological and cultural coherence and prevailing technical issues in settlement schemes having Highrise buildings and possibility of introducing vertically expanding Highrise buildings for future settlement schemes in Sri Lanka to minimize the over exploitation of limited land resources. In addition to that planning in progress to investigate the facilities and cervices provided by the government and nongovernment organizations for settlers living in primary producing areas and their involvement in primary production. Further planes are on the way to study the awareness level of settlers who are living in these primary producing areas about the Agro-ecosystems, “Ellanga” ecosystems and appropriate management systems accordingly.

Expanding the horizons about future settlements, ministry is looking forward to gather expertise and getting feedback form them to plan future cities and settlement schemes more applicable for areas fertile flood plains in the dry zone and intermediate areas as well as hilly areas in the wet zone of Sri Lanka aiming to imitate the development  long-term goals, guidelines and a roadmap for future.

Segment 1 – Sociological and cultural coherence and technical issues in existing settlement schemes

Theme

“Sociological and cultural coherence and technical issues prevailing in existing settlement schemes and impact over managing ecosystem services and resilience with respect to land, water, primary production, transportation and marketing”

Segment 2 – Issues in existing services provided by the governmental and nongovernmental organizations and involvement of settlers in primary production

Theme

“Meeting responsibilities of service providers and settlers in relation to optimizing primary production and managing ecosystem servicers and resilience”

Segment 3 – Status of the awareness among the settlers abut the Agro-ecosystems and Ellanga ecosystem and the appropriate management systems  

Theme

“Educational levels and awareness about Agro-ecosystems, Ellanga ecosystems and appropriate best management practices of settlers”

Segment 4 – Scope of designing future human cities and habitats 

Theme

“Finding better human cities and habitats as an alternative for existing settlement schemes and look for appropriate habitats for ‘’Ellanga’’ ecosystems and Agro-ecosystems in dry zone of Sri Lanka”

Segment 5 – Development of long-term goals guidelines and a road map for future

Theme

“Combine segment 1,2,3 and 4 and development of long-term goals and guidelines and a roadmap for future livelihood improvements in dry zone of Sri Lanka”