Report under Task B Assessment of relevant legal

Report under Task B

Assessment of relevant legal, regulatory and institutional

framework and recommendations for creating an enabling

environment for nature-based landslide risk management

solutions

August 2018

NATURE BASED LANDSLIDE RISK MANAGEMENT

PROJECT IN

SRI LANKA

Implemented by:

National Building Research

Organization

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, SM Tower, 24th Floor, 979/69 Paholyothin Road, Samsen Nai

Phayathai, Bangkok 10400, Thailand. Telephone: 66(0)22980681 to 92 Fax: 66(0) 22980012 to 13

Financially Supported by:

The World Bank

Technical Assistance by:

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

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Report under the Task B –

Assessment of relevant legal, regulatory and institutional

framework and recommendations for creating an enabling

environment for nature-based landslide risk management

solutions

August 2018

Report Submitted by

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center,

979/66-70 24th Floor, SM Tower, Pahalyothin Rd, Samsen Nai, Phayathai,

Bangkok 10400 Thailand

ii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Sri Lanka has largely relied on engineering solutions for managing the landslide risk in the past

and the application of nature-based and hybrid (engineering in combination with nature based)

solutions as an effective option for landslide risk management is rather limited. However it has

been demonstrated in many countries in Asia that the risk-informed nature based solutions can

be effective in reducing the occurrence and impact of landslides.

The World Bank (WB) has initiated an advisory services project namely “Nature Based

Landslide Risk Management” with the objective of undertaking several activities to raise

awareness and deepen the knowledge on the role of nature-based solutions for landslide risk

management within Sri Lanka. The project has been executed by the mandated agency for

landslide risk management in Sri Lanka, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO)

with technical assistance of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) based in Bangkok,

Thailand.

This report under the Task B of the said project, provides an assessment of existing policies,

relevant legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks. Based on the study outcomes, the report

offers several recommendations for creating an enabling environment for application of nature

based solutions as one of the effective measures for landslide risk management in Sri Lanka.

The study has been carried out based on six key thematic policy areas of relevance as indicated

below.

Conservation of forest and protection of upper watershed areas

Land use planning and land management

Protection of environment and natural resources

Soil conservation, prevention of soil erosion and land degradation

Water resources management and conservation of water sources

Disaster management

In carrying out the assessment study the relevant laws, regulations and policies have been

reviewed under each of the above thematic areas to understand their degree of relevance of the

subject area of nature based solutions and the applicability of the same for the purpose of

landslide risk management. The study team also has conducted agency level meetings as well

as key informant interviews in order to understand the current engagement of relevant

institutions and obtain their views on the nature based initiatives related to the above thematic

areas.

The study has revealed that a number of laws, regulations and policies of relevance are in

existence and those have been introduced from time to time by the Government of Sri Lanka

(GOSL), since the colonial era to the present. It is also disclosed that most of these laws,

regulations and policies are connected with overlapping responsibilities and approaches to

address the issues of environmental protection and conservation. Such policy overlaps cannot

be avoided as the objectives of each are quite similar and designed to fulfill specific tasks and

disciplines. As per the current legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks, a number of

government institutions bear the responsibility of protecting and conserving different

environmental resources in Sri Lanka and are currently engaged in undertaking nature based

solutions for different purposes. The study has revealed that, however there are no institutions

that are specifically implementing the nature based solutions for the purpose of landslide risk

management.

iii

Hence, the present study is making recommendations to create an appropriate institutional

arrangement under the leadership of the Ministry of Disaster Management and to assign the

responsibility to the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) for undertaking a

collaborative approach for application of nature based solutions as one of the options for

landslide risk management, as appropriate. Such strategy will help in expanding the current

mandate and functional responsibilities of NBRO enhancing its capacity in undertaking such

solutions as one of the cost effective long term actions to mitigate the landslide risk in Sri

Lanka. The study also recommends that the donor agencies could support such collaborative

approach by the Ministry of Disaster Management and the NBRO, in extending assistance for

effective implementation of such programs in the future, through institutional capacity

building, transfer of technology advancements and sharing knowledge and experience widely.

iv

ACRONYMS

ADB : Asian Development Bank

AD : Agriculture Department

ADPC : Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

CRIP : Climate Resilience Improvement Project

DCS : Department of Census and Statistics

DoM : Department of Meteorology DWLC : Department of Wildlife Conservation

DNBG : Department of National Botanic Gardens

DMC : Disaster Management Center

DRM : Disaster Risk Management

DRR : Disaster Risk Reduction

DS : District Secretary

DSD : Divisional Secretariat Division

FD : Forest Department

GoSL : Government of Sri Lanka

GND : Grama Niladhari Division

GN : Grama Niladhari

ID : Irrigation Department

IUCN : International Union for Conservation of Nature

LHMP : Landslide Hazard Mitigation Program

LUPPD : Land Use Policy Planning Department

MASL : Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka

MOH : Ministry of Health

MoDM : Ministry of Disaster Management

PG : Provincial Government

NPPD : National Physical Planning Department

NBRO : National Building Research Organization

NRMC : Natural Resources Management Center

RDA : Road Development Authority

SD : Survey Department

STC : State Timber Corporation

UMWP : Upper Mahaweli Watershed Management Project (UMWP) of the MASL

UDA : Urban Development Authority

UNDP : United Nations Development Program

UNCHS : United Nations Center for Human Settlements (UNHABITAT)

TNGA : Training needs and gap assessment

WMA : Waste Management Authority

WRB : Water Resources Board (WRB)

WB : World Bank

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................ii

ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................... iv

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Project Overview ............................................................................................................. 1

1.2 Project Objectives ............................................................................................................ 2

1.3 Project Tasks .................................................................................................................... 2

2.0 The purpose of the Task on Assessment of relevant legal, regulatory and

institutional framework and deliverables ......................................................... 4

2.1 Purpose of the Task .......................................................................................................... 5

3.0 Study methodology ........................................................................................ 6

3.1 Desk Studies..................................................................................................................... 6

3.2 Agency level meetings ..................................................................................................... 6

3.3 Stakeholders proposed to be involved in the above described stock taking and gap

assessment .............................................................................................................................. 7

3.4 National workshop for validating recommendations for strengthening the policy contents

for creating an enabling environment for application of nature-based landslide management

solutions ................................................................................................................................. 7

4.0 Stock taking on the policies, institutional set up and identification of gaps

related to conservation of forest and protection of upper watershed areas .. 9

4.1 How the subject area of Conservation of forest and conservation of forest within upper

watershed areas is connected to the scope of the task? .......................................................... 9

4.2 Relevant policy areas ..................................................................................................... 10

4.3 Institutional arrangement ............................................................................................... 10

4.4 Policy Gaps and possible entry points ........................................................................... 12


related to land use planning and land management ...................................... 14

5.1 How subject area of land use planning and land management is connected to the scope

of the task? ........................................................................................................................... 14





related to Protection of environment and natural resources ........................ 22

6.1 How subject area of protection of environment and natural resources is connected to the

scope of the task? ................................................................................................................. 22

vi



6.4 Gaps and possible entry points ...................................................................................... 27


related to soil conservation, prevention of soil erosion and land degradation

............................................................................................................................. 29

7.1 How are the subject areas of Soil conservation, prevention of soil erosion and land

degradation connected to the scope of the task? .................................................................. 29





related to water resources management and conservation of water sources

............................................................................................................................. 34

8.1 How the subject area of Water resources management and conservation of water sources

is connected to the scope of the task? .................................................................................. 34





related to Disaster Management ...................................................................... 40

9.1 How the subject area of disaster management is connected to the scope of the task? .. 40


9.3 Institutional arrangement for Disaster risk management ............................................... 42


10.0 Possible approaches/solutions to improve the legal, regulatory and

institutional arrangements to create an enabling environment for nature-

based landslide risk management solutions.................................................... 46

11.0 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 49

12.0 References .................................................................................................. 51

List of Figures

Figure 1.1: Schematic diagram showing Project Tasks ............................................................. 2

CHAPTER 1

1

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Project Overview

Sri Lanka has experienced a variety of natural and human induced disasters that have had a

devastating impact on human well-being as well as economic welfare of the country. The 2004

tsunami is an extreme example of a national level disaster from which the country has taken

substantial time to recover. Apart from the Tsunami, which could be considered as a rare and

uncommon event, Sri Lanka is impacted frequently by many other types of hazards that occur

more or less on a yearly or more frequent basis. The seven most frequently reported disaster

events in Sri Lanka are; floods, extreme wind events, landslides, health hazards, fires, lightning

and droughts. Among those floods, drought and landslides are more widespread, frequent and

bring more devastations in terms of human losses, physical damages and socio-economic

impacts than other types of hazards.

Landslides are becoming increasingly frequent and turning into a major threat in the hilly

areas due to population growth and due to scarcity of lands people are moving in to vulnerable

slopes. On the other hand, mountain areas are becoming more popular for living and leisure,

agriculture, tourism etc. Currently mountainous areas, prone to landslides are been converted

rapidly in to urban and semi-urban settlements and landslide impact is clearly seen within an

area covering more than 10 administrative districts of the country. Due to the impacts of climate

change and climate variability and consequent extreme weather conditions, the current trends

in landslide disaster events and subsequent impacts are likely to increase to some alarming

extent in the near future. Therefore, the potential for loss of life and destruction of assets

through landslides may also get increased significantly. This was evident from the several

major devastating landslide incidents which were reported from many parts of the country

recently.

There is a renewed concern despite the existing laws, regulations and byelaws etc. the

environmentally unfriendly practices, deforestation, encroachment on sensitive land uses due

to human settlement and infrastructure development continue on vulnerable slopes which are

highly prone to landslides in Sri Lanka. Excessive soil water content is the primary cause of

slope failure while steep slopes, weak soils or topography and occasional intense precipitation

events are the other main factors contributing to landslide risk. Poorly constructed slopes

adjacent to main roads, loss of soil reinforcement and soil saturation or high content of soil

moisture increases the probability of landslides during trigger events such as prolonged heavy

rainfall.

Under such circumstances, the importance of undertaking landslide risk mitigation

interventions is growing. In the past, Sri Lanka has largely relied on engineering solutions for

mitigating the landslide risk and the application of nature-based and hybrid (engineering plus

nature based) approaches for landslide risk management was not a common practice. It has

been demonstrated in many countries in Asia that the risk-informed nature based solutions can

be applicable and cost effective in reducing the occurrence and impact of certain types of

landslides. The scientific studies also have confirmed the crucial role of trees and forests in

preventing shallow landslides, not only by reinforcing and reducing soil moisture but also in

directly obstructing smaller slides and rock falls. Therefore, it is appropriate that country takes

initiatives to create an enabling environment to promote conservation practices and application

of nature based solutions for landslide risk management when and where it is appropriate. It

CHAPTER 1

2

may be more useful, when other measures in particular engineering measures may not be so

cost effective.

Under the above circumstances, the initiative to implement the Analytics and Advisory

Services project on “Nature Based Landslide Risk Management” by World Bank (WB) has

become important and timely, for raising the awareness on the subject and to deepen the

knowledge within the country on the role of nature based solutions for landslide risk

management. The project is implemented by the National Building Research Organization

(NBRO) with the technical assistance from Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC),

Thailand. It is also expected to apply this knowledge in a number of pilot demonstration sites

under the ongoing Climate Resilience Improvement Project (CRIP) funded by the World Bank.

1.2 Project Objectives

The objective of the said project is to carry out activities to raise awareness and deepen the

knowledge on the role of nature-based solutions for landslide risk management within the

country and to apply this knowledge in a number of pilot sites under the ongoing Climate

Resilience Improvement Project (CRIP) Phase 1 and in preparation of the Climate Resilience

Improvement Project (CRIP) Phase II.

The stakeholder capacity building is one of the main initiatives planned under the project. All

proposed activities of the project are expected to help the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) in

piloting and potentially scaling up the use of nature based and especially hybrid (i.e. the

combination of structural and green) solutions for landslide risk management. The lessons

learned in this regard would support the future application of similar solutions not only in Sri

Lanka but in the wider South Asian region.

1.3 Project Tasks

As reported through the inception report of the project, the assignment consists of following

tasks:

Figure 1.1: Schematic diagram showing Project Tasks

Prior to the commencement of the project, a stakeholder consultation workshop on “Nature

Based Landslide Risk Management”, was held on 26th February, 2018 at the Albatross of

Task A:

Implementing a capacity building programme for NBRO

Task B:

Assessment of relevant legal, regulatory and institutional framework

Task C:

Preparation of a Comprehensive landslide risk management plan for selcted pilot sites

Task D:

Preparation of a guidance document on nature-based landslide management approaches

Task E: Dissemination /Validation Workshop and Final Report submission

CHAPTER 1

3

Waters Edge Hotel in Colombo. This workshop was jointly organized by National Building

Research Organization (NBRO) in partnership with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

(ADPC) and the World Bank with the objective of identifying current challenges in landslide

risk management with emphasis on the role of nature based solutions. Many of the stakeholder

institutions such as Ministry of Disaster Management, Other Ministries involved in landslide

risk management, relevant line agencies of the Government, Academia, UN agencies, National

and International NGOs, Private sector, attended the workshop.

Through the project, it is expected to address some of the challenges associated with the

landslide disaster risk management identified during the stakeholder workshop and to help

strengthening the coordination efforts of NBRO for mainstreaming the landslide risk

management across several associated sectors.

CHAPTER TWO

4

2.0 The purpose of the Task on Assessment of relevant legal, regulatory and

institutional framework and deliverables

According to the available records, major landslides occurred during past three to four decades

in Sri Lanka, have caused a loss of more than 1,500 human lives and made over 200,000

families homeless. Even though, there were about 230 deaths in 2003 extreme event, a gradual

decrease of number of deaths have been recorded since then up to 2013. However, since 2014

to date an increasing trend in natural disasters. Human losses, economic damages and damages

have been witnessed, despite the enormous risk reduction efforts taken by the Sri Lankan

government. One of the main reasons for the same is the demand for land created due to

increasing urbanization and population increase. With the increase in population density, land-

man ratio has decreased from 2.7 ha/man in 1871 to 0.3 ha/man in 2000 resulting heavy

pressure for land and result is that the more people started moving in to marginal land with

steep and vulnerable slopes for construction of houses, infrastructure etc.

According to Meteorological Department very heavy rainfall events (extremes) in Sri Lanka

were increasing during the period of 2000-2016. The record-breaking heavy precipitation

events in 2016 and 2017 in Sri Lanka that caused devastating landslides and floods, confirms

the increasing trend in rainfall. The scientists suggest that the rainfall variation and some of the

extreme precipitation events recorded in the recent past may be associated with various global

phenomena such as Global Warming, influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the

Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Madden-Julian Oscillation, and the North Atlantic Oscillation.

Predictive models have improved significantly in the last few years, and they are currently

being refined to resolve remaining uncertainties. However, the interactions between these

phenomena and global warming, make it difficult to predict changes in monsoon periods as

well as the possible changes in weather patterns.

Landslides could be caused by Natural or human induces causes. Rainfall, hydrology,

underlying geological formation such as rock type, joint pattern, weathering of rock soil type

and land form are natural causes that can influence the trigger of landslides. In recent times

human interventions has caused major landslides and slope failures in Sri Lanka. Excavation

of steep slopes or its toe, loading of the slope or its crest, accelerated drawing down water

levels in reservoir, Irrigation system, defective drainage system, deforestation and various

types of mining and quarrying are human interferences causing landslides.1 Within this context,

setting up of pre and post landslide risk management activities like mitigation, preparedness,

response, recovery interventions as a part of the country’s development framework will have

very important long term outcomes not only in reducing the future landslide hazard risk but in

sustaining the gains of development.

As the main legal instrument for Disaster Risk management, Sri Lanka Disaster Management

Act No 13 of 2005, facilitate for the establishment of National Council for Disaster

Management (NCDM) and designate various other agencies to assist the Council to implement

disaster management programme in Sri Lanka. There are other acts and policies, which have

direct or indirect relationship with the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act. There are different

governance and institutional mechanisms set up under such other acts and respective

institutions are involved in various projects and other initiatives as per the mandates provided

1 http://www.mpid.gov.lk/en/images/NPA_UNDP/9_Mr_Bandara_plantation_final_30-4-2015.pdf

http://www.mpid.gov.lk/en/images/NPA_UNDP/9_Mr_Bandara_plantation_final_30-4-2015.pdf

CHAPTER TWO

5

to them. At the same time, because of these disciplines have until recently evolved largely

independent of each other, in practice they are not often well-integrated despite the obvious

benefits of integrated approaches. The resulting redundancies, gaps, inefficiencies, and at the

most basic level, confusion, can significantly impact a country or community’s ability to

achieve progress of intended efforts in disaster risk reduction including the management of

landslide risk.

Considering all such complexities it is necessary for the GoSL to take appropriate actions to

unify the efforts of all related government agencies, other stakeholders and get necessary

contributions in to landslide disaster risk management. It will be possible only if Government

can take action to establish a comprehensive framework and operational long-term action plan

for landslide disaster risk management in Sri Lanka and application of nature based solutions

can be integrated in to the same operational framework. As described in the Inception report,

one of the main aims of the current project on Nature Based Landslide Risk management is to

recommend for appropriate policy initiatives for establishing a better institutional mechanism

for creating an enabling environment for applying nature based solutions as a way of landslide

disaster risk management for future resilience building.

2.1 Purpose of the Task

The purpose of this task is to review the existing Legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks

for landslides mitigation and to provide suitable recommendations to aid formulation of a

suitable legal, regulatory and institutional framework for landslide risk management, where

nature-based landslide management solutions can become an integral part.

Currently the GoSL pays more attention to engineering solutions for mitigating the landslide

risks and to resettle vulnerable families in to safer areas to avoid the risk. But these more

popular solutions as well as community preparedness actions have their own limitations and

may not be suitable for different vulnerable areas to reduce the potential landslide risk. It is

expected that the findings of the proposed study will allow decision makers to come up with

necessary policy level changes and to undertake suitable modifications to regulatory and

institutional frameworks to have complementarities with other appropriate interventions

undertaken by respective institutions. It would further assist the donor agencies and

development partners, etc. in adoption of the nature based solutions as part of a long-term

landslide risk reduction strategy for Sri Lanka.

Under this task it is expected to carry out a capacity assessment, stock taking and gap

assessment and develop recommendations for strengthening policy contents for creating and

enabling environment to apply nature-based landslide risk management solutions suitable for

Sri Lanka.

CHAPTER THREE

6

3.0 Study methodology

Conducting a capacity assessment of institutions which have mandates for implementation of

different policy areas relevant to the scope of the project will be undertaken as describe below.

3.1 Desk Studies

As the initial step under this task, ADPC team has carried out a desk study on available policies,

approaches/solutions in terms of the legal, regulatory and institutional arrangements in order

to find out the level of relevance of the existing policies and institutional set up. The team felt

that such institutions can have direct influence in creating an enabling environment for

application of nature-based landslide risk management solutions and could contribute through

a designing complementarities and collaborative working arrangement, which will have mutual

benefits.

The desk study has covered the following areas:

Policies supporting the nature based landslide risk management in Sri Lanka;

Policies that may have indirect contributions to nature based landslide risk management;

Policies and practices that may have negative impact on application of nature based

landslide risk management.

In addition, the project team has explored other additional but relevant policy areas that could

be included in the study.

3.2 Agency level meetings

Following the desk study, as a way of stock taking and gap assessment, a comprehensive

Institutional Capacity Assessment Survey has been conducted for understanding the

institutional set up, review of the current mandates, roles and functions, organizational

strengths and capacities, etc. This study has involved major stakeholder institutions established

under the above mentioned policy areas. The study team also has paid attention to other

important aspects such as challenges, obstacles in implementation of policies to see the level

of compliance and factors effecting the same.

The Institutional Capacity assessment has been designed to use different participatory tools in

existence as ADPC team has familiarity in applying those tools in similar studies. The survey

Instrument format has been designed with the concurrence of NBRO and WB team to get a

feedback from a large number of participants as meeting all of them has become a daunting

task.

The assessment has been carried out through following means:

Short listing the policy areas that may be relevant to the study;

Stakeholder and Institutional Mapping under short listed policy area;

Brainstorming session with NBRO; ADPC team has briefed about the findings of the study

and carried out a brainstorming session with the Director and the Senior Scientists from

the Human Settlement Planning & Training Division (HSPTD), NBRO to get some

understanding on the NBRO expectations. In addition, the team has used the opportunity

to verify the roles that can be played by NBRO, in promoting nature based solutions in

CHAPTER THREE

7

landslide risk management in addition to current practices such as geo-engineering

solutions and resettlement of vulnerable people etc.;

Getting a feedback through a Structured Questionnaire survey: The participants of

this was from multi-level representing different disciplines from Senior Management staff

to mid-carrier level etc. of the stakeholder agencies;

Key Informant Interviews: Discussions at Institution level targeting technical staff:

Heads of divisions and subject specialists from institutions have been involved in

discussions. Attempt has been made to obtain a clear idea about the current level of

involvement of the agency in landslide risk management, functional responsibilities,

organizational set up, staff strengths and plans for capacity building and awareness

creation. In addition the opportunity has been used to identify detail technical functions of

respective agencies that can be included in the framework for promoting the application

of nature based solutions in landslide risk management and to collect information on the

adequacy of technical resources for undertaking various functions and to see capacity gaps

and resource constraint. It was also useful to learn how the current practices of the

respective institution can contribute to application of nature based solutions.

The results of the capacity assessment, stock taking and gap assessment and the interviews

have helped in developing recommendations for strengthening policy, regulations, procedures

for compliance, etc. in creating an enabling environment for application of nature-based

landslide management solutions suitable for Sri Lanka.

3.3 Stakeholders proposed to be involved in the above described stock taking and

gap assessment

After the desk study, it was fond that there are various policy areas which have direct or indirect

relevance to the subject areas of application of nature based solutions in landslide disaster risk

management. Such policy areas are:

Conservation of forest and protection of upper watershed areas;

Land use planning and land management;

Protection of environment and natural resources;

Soil conservation, prevention of soil erosion and land degradation;

Water resources management and conservation of water sources;

Disaster management.

The stakeholder institutions considered for this assessment are the mandated institutions under

above policy areas or those that are having direct role in the above listed policy areas.

3.4 National workshop for validating recommendations for strengthening the

policy contents for creating an enabling environment for application of nature-

based landslide management solutions

A comprehensive report on the Institutional capacity assessment for landslide risk management

providing recommendations for organizational strengthening, capacity building, improving

inter-agency coordination at national and sub-national levels etc. for strengthening the policy ,

regulations, procedures, institutional and legal set up etc. for creating an enabling environment

CHAPTER THREE

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for application of nature-based landslide management solutions suitable for Sri Lanka will be

delivered at the end of the assignment.

The ADPC team is expected to organize a validation meeting at national level with the

participation of the Senior Executive Staff of the respective stakeholder institutions to present

the findings and recommendations and to get a feedback. Necessary amendments will be

introduced accordingly to the final task report.

CHAPTER FOUR

9


related to conservation of forest and protection of upper watershed areas

4.1 How the subject area of Conservation of forest and conservation of forest

within upper watershed areas is connected to the scope of the task?

The total dense and open forest cover of the island (excluding forest plantations and other

forms of vegetation) was estimated at 19,422 km2 in 1996, accounting for 29.6% of the total

land area of the country. In addition to the natural forests and the forest plantations, a wide

range of non-forest tree resources are available in the form of home gardens, rubber, and

coconut and tea plantations. A conservative estimate made in 1995 on the contribution of the

forestry sector to the national economy of Sri Lanka stood at 6%, mainly from the production

of timber, sawn wood and firewood. In addition, the national forests provide other benefits to

the nation through their high flora and fauna biodiversity, conservation of soil and water that

leads to a positive impact on agricultural production and high aesthetic value which has

contributed to the development of ecotourism in recent times.

There is a general understanding that the depletion of forest cover in the upper catchment

areas has direct relationship with increasing trends in landslide incidents in the highlands

of Sri Lanka. This indicates that, there is a direct beneficial effects that tress, home

gardens and forests have in preventing and mitigating the effects of landslides. In several

countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia most of the landslide associated damages

found to be on lands cleared by farmers for slash and burn cultivation and in areas where

commercial unregulated timber logging take place. Some countries had imposed logging

ban in areas where there was an over cropping after escalation of landslides events. Many

argue that the forest Clarence and replacement with vegetation would have potential for

highly capable of arresting the landslide and erosion associated land degradation.

Considering the greater significance in such interventions the governments are promoting

new policies to promote conservation practices in the highlands.

Well established forest and vegetation cover in mountain slopes can have greater

influence in reducing the land degradation and preventing landslides in particular the

shallow landslides. It is believed that human intervention including deforestation has less

impact on deeper landslides as only shallow slides can occur within a zone of soil cover

which has much effect due to anchoring effect of root system. It is assumed that tree roots

cannot penetrate depth more than 4-5 meters. But it is a fact that for slopes with higher

gradient having a vegetation cover is much better and it will definitely contribute in

preventing slope destabilization and in reduction of erosion potential. On the other hand

localized rock falls which can become very destructive force due to the fact that detached

rock pieces which comes down without warning can do harm to settlements located in

the down slope. Therefore dense tree or forest cover also can have beneficial effect as

trees can act as a barricade or obstructions to smaller rock falls and limit the run-out

distance.

In considering of the beneficial effects and the technical basis described above it is

advocated that radical policy changes are necessary to reduce the man-made interventions

such as road construction, human settlements & infrastructure development, unregulated

CHAPTER FOUR

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commercial timber extraction and for conservation of forest cover in steep slopes in

mountain areas vulnerable to landslide.

4.2 Relevant policy areas

In Sri Lanka the forest resources are, own managed and protected by two main government

institutions i.e.; the Forest Department (FD), empowered by the Forest Ordinance, and the

Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC), empowered by the Fauna and Flora Protection

Ordinance. Forest resources owned by other sources are minute and negligible. The total land

area under the jurisdiction of the FD is roughly estimated at 12,708 km2, thus making it 19.4%

of the total area of the island. The DWLC has responsibility of over 6,714 km2 of protected

areas, or 10.2% of the total land area. Therefore forest lands managed by the DWLC are vital

to the study, especially in forest cover estimations at the national level and forecasting its future

changes.

The present forest policy of the government emphasizes on conservation, especially of the

natural forests. This is much reflected in the forest policy of 1995 and in proposed amendments

to the Forest Ordinance. In addition to the existing ones, most of the natural forests are

classified as Conservation Forests. A major policy decision towards conservation was

undertaken by the government in 1990, by imposing a logging ban in the Wet Zone natural

forests, which has also been extended to the natural forests in the other areas of the island.

Since the year 2000, the government has declared many forest areas and unique ecosystems as

conservation forests vide Section 3A (1) of the Forest Ordinance. This includes 15 mangrove

areas in the western and southern coastline (2000-2002), Knuckles Conservation Area (2000)

and Ranavakanda in 2005. It is anticipated that, the Government’s standing on this trend will

be continued. Systematic survey and boundary marking of natural forests is currently underway

and many forest areas are due to be declared as Conservation Forests based on the findings of

the National Conservation Review during 2009.

Environmental issues of different magnitude may arise from time to time as perceived by

people on different matters. In general, people are aware of the consequences of large-scale

deforestation. People oppose planting of certain exotic tree species, i.e. pine or eucalypts, as

they are allegedly environmentally ‘unfriendly’. Public comments are often heard on the

human-elephant conflicts in the Dry Zone or on wild elephants run over by trains. In more

specific instances, people protest on the construction of a new highway or environmentally

enthusiastic groups challenge the implementation of a new development project in a court of

law.

4.3 Institutional arrangement

The Forest Department (FD), empowered by the Forest Ordinance of 1907 (No. 16 of 1907) as

amended in 2009 and the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC), empowered by the

Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance as amended by acts no. 44 of 1964, 1 of 1970 and 49 of

1993, have the responsibility for management and protection of the forest cover.

The forestry practices in the country seems to be moving in line with technological

development, especially in the field of information technology. This relates especially to the

activities of the Forest Management and Inventory Division, which is responsible for the

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sustainable management of forest resources. For the most part, the conventional compass and

chain surveys are now replaced by GPS surveys. Forest boundaries are being digitized and

incorporated into a GIS database. The old database on forest plantations (FORDATA) is now

being replaced by a new plantation database (FORMPLAN) prepared using the latest database

management software. Once completed, this database will be coupled with the plantation map

database. Efforts are underway to investigate the feasibility of using high resolution satellite

imagery for forest mapping by replacing the conventional black and white panchromatic aerial

photographs used in the past. Changes are also foreseen in the production forestry sector,

especially by improving nursery practices. This would include the use of high grade certified

seeds, better germination and growing media, seedling grading and the vegetative propagation

of the main plantation species etc.

As total extent of lands devoted for forest plantations cannot be expanded due to land scarcity,

therefore it has been emphasized to enhance the productive potential of the available lands has

to be utilized more fruitfully. Under this context, large areas of failed plantations are being

restored by the responsible agencies converting them to productive status by improved site

preparation, optimum species selection, better tending after planting and protection from

destructive agents.

Forestry research activities are carried out by the Research Division of the FD and the major

universities and environmental organizations. Areas of research by the FD include tree

improvement, provenance trails, vegetative propagation, and forest entomology, while

universities and other organizations concentrate more on forest ecology, biodiversity and socio-

economic aspects of forests. Seeds from the first generation seed orchards established under

eucalyptus and teak tree improvement programs are currently used for the establishment of

new plantations and are expected to meet the entire demand from seed orchards, instead of seed

production areas, within a few years.

Community Forestry Management (CFM) has been identified as one of the best approaches for

sustainable forest resource management and livelihood enhancement of the communities

dependent on forest resources. The CFM approach recognizes that the communities themselves

are in a better position to protect the forest provided that they are empowered and facilitated

with ecosystem knowledge and best practices, technologies, market linkages, access to credit

and ability to partner with Government, Private, NGO and other entities. In this context the Sri

Lanka–Australia Natural Resource Management Project (SLANRMP) was designed as per the

National Forest Policy and implemented between 2003 and 2009. Based on the success of

SLANRMP, in 2008, the Forest Department prepared a Strategy for Community Forest

Management in Sri Lanka and requested further Australian assistance to consolidate the

achievements of SLANRMP and expand CFM, nationally. Positive response of the

Government of Australia through AusAID Sri Lanka resulted in the four year “Community

Forestry Programme (CFP)” starting in 2012. The CFP will be implemented in five districts

where SLANRMP was implemented, namely, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Matale,

Monaragala, and Puttalam and expanded into 10 new districts including conflict affected North

and East provinces.

For many years the State Timber Corporation (STC) had the sole authority for timber

harvesting in state forests. The long practiced traditional royalty payment by the STC for timber

extracted from government forests has now been replaced by in situ valuation of standing

timber prior to felling. This method of stumpage calculation was introduced recently with the

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objective of timber harvesting by an open bidding process, in which private entrepreneurs

compete along with the government-owned STC.

Considering the stakeholders directly or indirectly involved in the forestry development, it is

clear that the state institutions dominate the sector with lower involvement of the private sector

or NGOs. The CBOs play a significant role, especially during the implementation of some

projects. The Wildlife and Protected Area Management Project implemented by the DWLC

has initiated some micro financing projects with the involvement of CBOs and their

sustainability needs to be monitored after their completion. Large-scale private sector

involvement in the forestry sector is not significant under the present conditions. This applies

both to the FD and the DWLC.

4.4 Policy Gaps and possible entry points

The present forest policy of the government emphasizes conservation, especially of the natural

forests. The Government has declared that it has an expectation to increase the forest reserves

in the country up to 32%. This is much reflected in the forest policy of 1995 and in proposed

amendments to the Forest Ordinance. In addition to the existing ones, most of the natural forests

are classified as Conservation Forests. A major policy decision towards conservation was

undertaken by the government in 1990, by imposing a logging ban in the Wet Zone natural

forests, which has also been extended to the natural forests in the other areas of the island.

Since 2000, the government has declared many forest areas and unique ecosystems as

conservation forests vide Section 3A (1) of the Forest Ordinance. This includes majority of the

landslide prone hill districts. If the NBRO can provide the details of high risk landslide areas

to the Forest Department and take up the importance of Forest conservation as a part of its

current strategy for long term landslide risk management and take initiatives to highlight the

same in the current Forest Ordinance, it will help the Forest Department to declare highly

vulnerable slopes to landslides to be natural forest reserves in future.

Systematic survey and boundary marking of natural forests is currently underway and many

forest areas are due to be declared as Conservation Forests based on the findings of the National

Conservation Review during 2009.If NBRO can provide the landslide hazard zonation maps to

Forest Department, they can include such areas in the surveillances program so that any

unauthorized destructions which will increase the vulnerability to landslides can be prevented.

The national forest policy of 1995 promotes the formation of partnerships with local people,

rural communities and other stakeholders where appropriate. During the past two decades,

efforts have been made to deviate from the conventional system of forest practices by absorbing

local communities into planning, decision making and implementation of local forestry

activities. Participatory approaches are now an integral component in forest practices,

especially in implementing donor-assisted projects. Establishment of timber and fuel-wood

plantations, agro-forestry woodlots, delineation and protection of forest boundaries, ecotourism

etc. are some recent interventions undertaken with community participation with varying

degrees of success. It can be a strong entry point for promoting nature based solutions for

landslide risk management. When some of the land which are abandoned due to landslides are

to be rehabilitated, community partnership approach can be applied and Nature based practices

or hybrid practices in combination of structural solutions can be utilized in rehabilitating such

vulnerable land. There can be joint programs by NBRO and Forest Department aiming at

rehabilitating high risk slopes with community or private sector participation

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As total extent of lands devoted for forest plantations cannot be expanded due to land scarcity,

the productive potential of the available lands has to be utilized more fruitfully. Under this

context, large areas of failed plantations are being restored by converting them to productive

stands by improved site preparation, optimum species selection, better tending after planting

and protection from destructive agents. Such land areas identified as vulnerable land to

landslides(which are located within slopes where slope gradient is higher) the NBRO can

suggest Forest Department to undertake joint programs where NBRO will be able to promote

nature based solutions to mitigate landslide risk.

Most important landslide protection services that vegetation can offer is in relation to

mechanical and hydrological properties and processes. Mechanical properties are associated

with tree roots that improve the slope stability. The primary mechanical effects of vegetation

on slope stability are reinforcement of soil by roots and protection of the soil surface from

surface erosion as well as gulling. Roots of selected trees an d p l an t s penetrate to greater

depths than other vegetation and may pass through potential slip surfaces, thereby anchoring

the soil. The effectiveness of vegetation in protecting slopes depends on rooting depth relative

to potential failure planes and the density and distribution of roots. Beneficial hydrological

effects relate to the ability of vegetation to extract water from the soil and intercept rainfall,

allowing it to evaporate before reaching the soil. Forestry research activities are carried out by

the Research Division of the Forest Department and the major universities and environmental

organizations. Areas of research by the Forest Department include tree improvement,

provenance trails, vegetative propagation, and forest entomology, while universities and other

organizations concentrate more on forest ecology, biodiversity and socio-economic aspects of

forests. NBRO will be able to undertake joint research or enter in to special R&D programs

with Forest department and Universities to identify best plants that will have characteristics or

mechanical and hydrological properties needed to serve as vegetation which can effectively

contribute in improving the slope stability.

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related to land use planning and land management

5.1 How subject area of land use planning and land management is connected to

the scope of the task?

The land use planning is one of the most challenging tasks to undertake in the present day

context due to conflicting interests of stakeholders. Decision on how to use the land or purpose

or time that changes will be made to a particular land, is entirely a decision that will be taken

by the owner. Large percentage of people in any country are exposed to different types of

hazards at different extents at different time intervals. Many of the land owners do not know

or understand the full extent of the consequences of their own actions and they tend to change

the land use without having any consequence studies. As different land parcels will get exposed

to various natural hazards and they may not experience the damages every time the land get

exposed to particular type of hazards as consequences due to different return period events

will depend on the nature and force it can generate at the particular event. They may not have

experienced such consequences particularly some of the extreme events that are being recorded

due to global climate change.

The land use planning is considered as a potentially powerful mitigation concept, which is

emerging as an innovative risk management tool. It is usually capable of mitigating the risk

through minimization of exposure and thus limiting the disadvantages due to various types of

vulnerabilities in existence. This is practically important as a newly emerging disaster risk

reduction measures in areas that are threatened by geological, hydro-meteorological types of

hazards. Land use planning is well suited for areas that has the potential exposure to such

hazards as it can be introduced as a systematic, purposeful and proactive measure to reduce the

ever increasing disaster associated damages, socio-economic impacts, which is a hindering

factor for sustainability of development interventions.

The kind of relationship between the occurrence of landslides and the human activities are

numerous and mutual. The effects of land-use changes on the occurrence of landslides have

been studied by many and many of such land use changes which are responsible for triggering

of landslides are found to be due to inappropriateness of the land for the selected development.

Usually such inappropriate selections are due to high demand and scarcity of appropriate land

needed for development activities such as housing, new settlements planning, roads or

infrastructure development etc. In Sri Lanka, such changes also tend to be associated with

agriculture practices. When analysis is made on the losses and damages caused by landslides,

the scale of the problem connected with physical development seems to be higher than the

agriculture associated cases. It is well understood that the population increase and urbanization

both have created a considerably high demand for land. The high risk of landslides due to land

use related reasons can be easily ascertained, to an acceptable level by using the GIS technology

but in practice this kind of technology is not used when selecting lands for development

purposes.

It should be noted, that land areas that are affected or has potential effect due to landslides tend

to get abandoned without proper rehabilitation efforts. However, with the current level of land

scarcity and the very high number of landslides, it is impossible to abandon the land areas

affected by mass movements from use. However, analyses focusing on the contemporary use

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of land affected by landslides and efforts to make such land productive subsequently are still

relatively rare.

The recent studies conducted by NBRO show that the newly planted rubber lands are highly

susceptible to landslides. Since many owners of land do not wish to invest in maintenance of

land due to economic reasons, even older rubber plantations and tea plantations are becoming

more susceptible to landslides. Identifying the effects of landslides on agricultural land and

economic benefits of undertaking mitigation measures or other forms of spatial management

practices for the land may be significant for promoting proper land-use planning as it is

important to have local actions aimed at minimization of the susceptibility to landslides.

Vegetation and land use has a direct and inseparable relationship when considering the level of

susceptibility of a land to landslide hazard. In particular, abandoned cultivated lands that

gradually recovered through natural grasses, shrubs and woods have been identified as the land

use classes that are most prone to shallow landslides. Additionally the negative qualities of

agricultural maintenance increase the surface run-off and consequently intensify the erosion

process as well as the instability of the slope. The ancient villages in upcountry areas

maintained a system called Kandyan Home Gardens with a multiple set of benefits covering

social, economic, environmental, aspects including hazard prevention. It is also revealed that

the mix-vegetation systems found in ancient Kandyan Home Garden systems had a special

ability to prevent land sliding. Since such home gardens are located on the higher land the flood

risk is minimum and soil erosion also kept to the minimum as whole areas are usually covered

with thick vegetation grown to satisfy different community needs. They met all their timber

needs from these home gardens and have regular and systematic way of timer extraction and

fulfilling other economic needs.


The planning and control of land use is carried out through introduction of vast spectrum of

general policies, which are directly or indirectly influence the way decisions are made on land

related matters. Such policies provide the basis for decision making related to physical, social

and economic development and are capable of covering issues related to political, social,

economic, physical and environmental aspects. The degree of effectiveness of land use

planning policies and its efficiency will have influencing roles in terms of risk reduction during

pre-disaster period as well as post disaster period.

Acquisition of the greater part of the land in the country by the State through the Crown Lands

(Encroachment) Ordinance of 1840 and the Waste Lands Ordinance of 1897 paved the way for

the establishment of tea, rubber and coconut plantations in previously-forested land. It is

estimated that more than 80 per cent of land in Sri Lanka is still under some form of state

control. This has encouraged government involvement in land use planning, which has arisen

independently on several occasions with little cross fertilization of ideas and experiences.

The Land Development Ordinance – No.19 of 1935 is one of the main legal enactment

introduced by the government during pre-Independence period. Stemming from the Land

Development Ordinance of 1935, the strategy for land settlement in Sri Lanka had tried to

promote the greatest number of self-sufficient smallholders. Policies to this end have included

restrictions on sale and inheritance, land reform, village expansion schemes aimed at relieving

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overcrowding in the Wet Zone by developing swamps land and expropriating plantation land,

and settlement schemes based on the development of irrigation in the Dry Zone.

In the Post-Independence period significant changes in land use policy has taken place after

1972 and some of the important policies are:

Land Reforms Commission Act No 01 of 1972,

Land Reform Law of 1972,

Land Grants (Special Provisions) Act – No. 43 of 1979,

State Land (Recovery of possession) Act – No. 07 of 1979, etc.

A different approach was adopted by the above mentioned 1972 Land Reforms Commission

Act which had limited land ownership per family to 25 acres of paddy land or 50 acres of land

for other purposes. Most of the plantation lands in the country was taken into state ownership

and management.

National Land use policy framework has been approved in 2007.It takes about the protection

and conservation of water sources and emphasizes the benefits of restoration.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is an international

environmental treaty adopted on 9 May 1992 and Sri Lanka as a country which has ratified the

UNFCC has developed its National Action Plan in 2016. Every 3 year period it has to be

reviewed and revised. It has included a very elaborative program to combat land degradation.

Land Development Ordinance No. 19 of 1935 is an Ordinance to provide for the systematic

development and alienation of State land in Sri Lanka. This Ordinance regulates the alienation

of State land. For this purpose, it makes provision for the appointment of a Land Commissioner

who shall be responsible for the general supervision and control of relevant Government

officers and land officers in the administration of State land and in the exercise of the powers

conferred upon them by the Ordinance.

Land Commissioner’s report issued in 1926-27, and In the Interim report issued in the year

2017 it has suggested a framework for watershed management. For the first time it has also

discussed about the Disaster Risk sensitive land uses and land management practices.

A change in government policy away from exclusive promotion of plantation crops was

foreshadowed by Clifford in 1927 and the First Report of the Land Commission, 1928/29, that

recognized the need to provide both for plantation industries and for the burgeoning needs of

village population. The Land Development Ordinance of 1935 institutionalized a 'mapping out'

procedure involving assessment of village needs, physical land evaluation, land survey,

broadly-based consultation, allocation (alienation) and subsequent administration of State

Land.

The initial objectives expected to be achieved from major settlement schemes through the Land

Development Ordinance of 1935 were (a) protecting peasant farmers as a group (b) alleviating

land hunger among the poorest of the poor (c) relieving population pressure of the villagers in

the wet zone of the country, (d) increasing food production particularly paddy (e) developing

the scarcely populated dry zone. Some of the more recent objectives were (a) generating hydro

power (b) promoting industries and (c) promoting exports.

Stemming from the Land Development Ordinance, which remains in force, planning has been

implemented primarily by legalistic controls on land use. For example, the Land

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Commissioner's Department has been responsible both for alienation of land and its subsequent

administration through leaseholds and restrictions on sale and inheritance to prevent

subdivision of holdings. The government undertook an enormous technical and administrative

load in the survey and registration of each individual plot and in embarking on the subsequent

administrative management of the land in the past decades.

Subsequently the policies provided in Land Development Ordinance has been merged with

another two ordinances ie; Crown Land Ordinance 1949(to make provision for the grant and

disposition of crown lands in Ceylon; for the management and control of such lands and the

foreshore; for the regulation of the use of the water of lakes and public streams; and for other

matters incidental to or connected with the matters aforesaid) and Irrigation Land Ordinance

(where irrigation canals. Reservoirs etc. have been designated for regulatory purpose.

In 1978, the pressure of escalating and competing demands on the land and the palpable neglect

of the now unprofitable plantation sector prompted the new administration to combine several

agencies responsible for the management of land into a new Ministry of Lands and Land

Development. A conference on Land and Water Resources Development convened by the

Ministry in 1979, adopted the rationale for land use planning laid down by West (1979) and

recommended an institutional structure comprising: - An Inter-Ministerial Coordinating

Committee for Land Use and Development at Secretary level, served by a technical secretariat,

the Land Use Policy Planning Division (LUPPD), within the Ministry of Lands and Land

Development; - District Land Use Planning Committees to undertake mapping out of land for

specific purposes. In the same vein, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, Appendix

II (1987), provides for the establishment of a National Land Commission. The terms of

reference of LUPPD were to act as a bridge in the flow of information between land resources

specialists and policy-makers and administrators; to develop a computerized land information

system; to coordinate land use planning at district level; and to provide training in land use

planning. The LUPPD was formally established in 1979 and provision for mapping out re-

introduced into the Land Development Ordinance in 1981. However, the nearly 50-year-old

statute did not provide a realistic basis for natural resources management in the new situation

and no trained staff were available for the work. Assistance was sought from FAO and an

agreement signed in December 1983.

The Town and Country Planning Ordinance in 1946 is an Ordinance which authorize the

formulation and implementation of a National Physical Planning policy; the making and

implementation of a National Physical Plan with the objective of promoting and regulating

integrated planning of economic, social, physical and environmental aspects of land in Sri

Lanka; to provide for the protection of natural amenities, the conservation of natural

environment, buildings of architectural and historic interest and places of natural beauty; to

facilitate the acquisition of land for the purpose of giving effect to such plan and to provide for

matters incidental to or connected with the matters aforesaid. The T&CP Ordinance which

came into power in 1946 had been subjected to amendments in 1950, 1953, 1955, and 1981

and in the year 2000. Under the latest amendment, it had made provisions to establish the

National Physical Planning Department (NPPD) in place of originally established Town and

Country Planning Department. The NPPD has formulated a comprehensive National Physical

Development Plan for 2011 to 2030 which provides guidelines for development of urban

centers and human settlements in Sri Lanka.

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The basis for preparation of the National Physical Structure Plan 2011-2030 by the NPPD has

been the vision for 2020 which was known as the “Mahinda Chinthana” of the previous

government. Under these the goal of the National Physical Structure Plan has been specified

as follows.

" Take action to develop the country as a five-fold center by using its unique geographical

location, and connecting west and east by Navigation, Aviation, Trade and Commerce, Energy

and Knowledge” The main objective of the National Physical Plan is to locate the

implementation of this goal identified by Mahinda Chintana.

I. Protect the environment through limiting development in fragile areas, the Protected

Area Network and areas of local and regional environmental significance.

II. Ensure that the people of Sri Lanka live in areas that are safe from natural disasters and

effects of global warming including rising sea level.

III. Create a strong network of cities towns and villages that provide a high quality of life,

an appropriate range of services, diverse employment opportunities and community

integration.

IV. Provide infrastructure facilities that will support cities, towns and villages and

economic activities.

V. Protect water catchments and water resources to improve water quality and ensure

sufficient supply of water for domestic, agricultural, industrial activities and power

generation.

VI. Provide an integrated spatial pattern of development that finds the balance between

production and protection of natural resources and encourages economic development.

The NPPD has been taking initiatives to developed regional physical plans for different

geographical regions in Sri Lanka including the Central, Uwa, Sabaragamuwa and Sothern

Province by paying attention to the natural hazards and protecting and conserving the

environment. The National Physical Planning Policy also provides for establishment of the

Planning process which includes Technical Advisory Committee, Inter Ministerial

Coordinating Committee and the National Physical Planning Council. The National Physical

Planning Council is to be chaired by the H.E. the President of Sri Lanka. Thus, the NPPD has

a major responsibility in planning, protecting and promoting the environmental sensitive areas

in Sri Lanka contributing to mitigate the landslide hazards in Sri Lanka.

The Urban Development Authority Act No 41 of 1978 is a significant enactment passed by the

parliament of Sri Lanka to promote integrated urban development and promoting investment

in the country. The specific objectives of this act includes, “To promote integrated planning

and implementation of economic, social and physical development of certain areas as may be

declared by the minister to be urban development areas and for matters connected therewith or

incidental thereto”. Under the UDA act it has established the Urban Development Authority

(UDA) in 1978 to implement the provisions of the act. Accordingly all the Municiapal Council

areas and urban council areas have been included as the authority areas of UDA. In addition to

that, any built up areas within Pradeshiya Sabha limit can be designated as urban development

areas as decided by the Minister in charge of the subject area of urban development.

It is the responsibility of the UDA to formulate development plans for such designated areas

under the UDA Act. Along with the preparation of development plans for any area designated

under the UDA act, it will undertake to develop necessary regulations to protect the natural

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19

resources and promoting the environmental quality in such areas. Such regulations are

formulated in consultation with other relevant government institutions and the local authorities

in a particular area in order to ensure cooperation and assistant in implanting such regulations.

Formulation of planning and building regulations for specific local authority areas such as

Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Colombo can be cited as examples of such area specific

development regulations prepared by the UDA for managing the urban development sector

issues in such areas. It has been found that, the UDA has delegated the powers of

implementation of development plans to respective local authorities. It has established the

planning committee system in all the designated local authorities through which planning

applications for all the new development activities including modifications and alterations of

existing structures are to be scrutinized by the planning committee for granting planning

approval. Thus, the UDA is playing a significant role in managing and controlling the

development activities including major construction activities within the country including

environmentally sensitive areas.


“Land Use Policy Planning Division” (LUPPD) was established in 1983, as a unit under the

Ministry of Land and Land Development in order to introduce the scientific land use planning

to the country. The Division was upgraded to a Department in 2010 by considering the

significance of the subject area of land use planning and also considering the expanded role of

the LUPPD.

The Land Use Policy Planning Department (LUPPD) has a VISION of “Optimum and

Sustainable Utilization of Land Resources in Sri Lanka”.

The MISSION of the Institution is Formulation of policies, preparation of plans and facilitating

their implementation by an efficient and committed staff to achieve the optimum utilization of

land resources while maintaining sustainability and environmental balance for the satisfaction

of stakeholders and the land users.

There are 05 main objectives for the establishment of the LUPPD

1. Establish a legal background for implementing the National Land Use Policy adopted for

Sri Lanka.

2. Prepare a National Land Use Plan for Sri Lanka

3. Provide technical guidance so as to utilize the limited land resources for the betterment of

the human beings while maintaining environment equilibrium.

4. Issue recommendations and directives to establish the conservation and future existence

of Land resource in development plans based on the land resource.

5. Launch programs so as to expand the knowledge, training and education on scientific land

use planning.

Role of the LUPPD in Land Use planning activities are two levels:

Macro-Level

At this level Land Use Plans are prepared for Provinces, Districts and Divisional Secretary

Divisions. Priority has been given to Prepare Divisional Land Use plans in all districts and

District Land Use plans in Northern and Eastern provinces under the program to implement the

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20

recommendations of the report prepared by Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission

(LLRC).

Micro-level

At this level, preparation and implementation of village land use plans, preparation and

implementations of plans to rehabilitate the degraded agricultural lands, establishment of land

use demonstrations in government office premises & schools and provide land suitability

reports for unused state lands based on the requests made by various government institutions

are being carried out.

The above land use planning activities are facilitated by;

(1) Maintaining a Land Use Information system as a base for the preparation of land use plans

at various levels.

(2) Update District Level Land Use Maps.

(3) Conduct awareness programs on Land Use Planning for Land Users, Government officers

and for School children.

(4) Establish and ensure the functioning of District and Divisional Level Land Use Planning

Committees to minimize land use issues at District and Divisional levels.

Institutional Arrangement

The Land Use Policy Planning Department (LUPPD) has a central administration with a Head

Office situated at Narahenpita, Colombo 05 and 25 district offices in all the 25 administrative

districts. The District Land Use Planning Officers were recruited in 1988 for 25 Districts as

officer in charge of the District Offices. Since 31st March 2015 fourteen District Land Use

Planning Officers who were available at that time were promoted to the post of Assistant

Director (District Land Use) on merit basis. Subsequently, eleven vacancies in the Assistant

Director (District Land Use) post were filled in November 2016 by a competitive examination.

All together there are 23 Assistant Directors (District Land Use) available at present. Sixty two

Assistant Land Use Planning Officers were recruited in 1994 and 1999. Later 269 Land Use

Planning Assistants were recruited to the Divisional level in 2005 to expand the activities at

the divisional level. Since 11 December 2014 two designations named as “Assistant Land Use

Planning Officer” and “Land Use Planning Assistant” was changed to one designation as “Land

Use Planning Officer”. Thus the total number of Land Use Planning Officers is currently 294.

One hundred and seventy six (176) Development Officers under the Graduate Scheme were

recruited Island wide in 2013 and 2014 to expand the field activities further. The total number

of Development Officers attached to the department is 193.


The NBRO and LUPPD both are engaged in mapping the land uses in 1:10,000 scale and both

mapping programs can have mutual benefits to each other organizations. Land use map is one

of the base maps used in landslide hazard zonation mapping and since the LUPPD is taking

efforts to update the land use maps in the districts, the NBRO will be able to use such data in

updating the landslide hazard zonation maps. It is appropriate to create a sustainable

institutional mechanism to share map information by both agencies.

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21

Land use committees at Divisional Secretariat and District Secretariat level is an important

development initiated by LUPPD to create awareness of better land use practices for effective

and productive management of lands within the country. Although currently NBRO does not

participate in the affairs of such committees it would be beneficial to ensure NBRO’s active

participation in such committees. If that is not possible at least the reported cases of vulnerable

lands, landslide trigger areas etc. can be reported to such committees as the Divisional

Secretaries are provided with reports by NBRO as a routine practice. Subsequently the LUPPD

can declare such lands as reservation areas and may impose development controls and

restrictions on such lands.

The nature based practices and conservation of forest areas can make positive contributions to

mitigate landslide risk. NBRO and LUPPD can take joint programs to crate community

awareness on conservation practices and to promote nature based solutions in mitigating the

risk in vulnerable locations.

The LUPPD conducts training and capacity building programs for the benefit of their own staff

as well as to build the capacity of other stakeholders in the districts and divisional areas. NBRO

can actively take part in such programs and if joint capacity building programs can be organized

it will be mutually benefiting both agencies. In the same way LUPPD can include some of the

technical substance on landslide trigger mechanism and fragile land use practices in their field

manuals so that the field level staff become more familiar with such situations.

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related to Protection of environment and natural resources

6.1 How subject area of protection of environment and natural resources is

connected to the scope of the task?

Landslides are destructive and usually can cause property damage, injuries and deaths and

create an adverse effects on a variety of natural resources. It is a part of usual natural denudation

process which contributes in altering the topography of hilly areas. Landslides can have

considerable impact on the natural environment as well as on the components of the built

environment. The impacts of landslides on the natural environment by changing the character

of slopes, rivers, streams and water bodies has been more significant. The man made

interventions in particular within the built-environment also can trigger or influence occurrence

of landslides. For instance currently we see a significant amount of problems associated with

slope destabilization due to sand mining, earth excavation, quarry operations for rock

excavation etc. The landslides also can heavily impact on the quality of water and reduce the

storage and drainage capacity as large amount of soil, organic matter can enter in to the water

bodies as a consequence of landslides. It has been revealed that, the landslides make influence

on living habitat that exists within the water bodies (fish, fauna, and flora) and natural forest

and wildlife. Basically landslides can have impacts on all biotic factors within a given

ecosystem including plants, animals, bacteria, fungi etc. Landslides can have long-lasting

effects on various elements within the built environment by killing its population, causing

destructions to housing, farm land, infrastructure such as roads, drainage, electricity supply,

polluting water sources and natural environment etc. Healthy environment free of natural

disasters such as landslides, floods is important for sustaining human population and other

habitat but landslide induced environmental costs would take longer time period to recover and

maintain the balance of the environmental resources.


National Environment Policy - 2003

The policy aims to promote the sound management of Sri Lanka's environment balancing the

needs for social and economic development and environment integrity. It also aims to manage

the environment by linking together the activities, interests and perspectives of stakeholders

and to assure environmental accountability.

National Forestry Policy – 1995

The policy was drawn up to provide clear directions for safeguarding the remaining natural

forests of the country in order to conserve biodiversity, soil and water resources. In accordance

with the policy, the forests under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department is being reclassified

and placed under four management systems ranging from strict conservation, non-extractive

use, management of multiple use forests for sustainable production of wood and management

of forests with community participation.

The National Policy on Wild Life Conservation - 2000

The policy renews the commitment of the government to conserve wildlife resources through

promoting conservation, maintaining ecological processes and life sustaining systems,

managing genetic diversity and ensuring sustainable utilization and sharing of equitable

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23

benefits arising from biodiversity. It emphasizes the need for effective protected area

management with the participation of local communities.

National Air Quality Management Policy – 2000

The purpose of this policy is to maintain good air quality to reduce morbidity due to air

pollution and in turn reduce national health expenditures.

National Watershed Management Policy – 2004

Policy aims to conserve, protect, rehabilitate, sustainability use and manage the watersheds

while managing their environment characteristics with the involvement of people.

Cleaner Production Policy – 2004

The objective of this policy is to incorporate the cleaner production concept and practices into

all development sectors of the country. To implement the policy, the sectoral policies were

developed for health and tourism in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of

Tourism.

National Biosafety Policy – 2005

The policy on biosafety set the overall framework in which adequate safety measures will be

developed and put into force to minimize possible risks to human health and the environment

while extracting maximum benefits from any potential that modern bio technology may offer.

National Policy on Wetlands – 2005

This policy seeks to give effect to National Environment Policy and other relevant national

policies, while respecting national commitment towards relevant international conventions,

protocols, treaties and agreements to which Sri Lanka is a party.

National Policy on Sand as a Resource for the Construction Industry – 2006

This policy statement reflects Sri Lanka's constitutional, international and national obligations,

including the Mines and Minerals Act No. 33 of 1992, the National Environmental Act of 1980,

the Coast Conservation Act of 1981 and other relevant legislation, regulations and policy

statements. It defines the commitment of the Government, in partnership with the people, to

effectively manage the construction-sand resource for the benefit of present and future

generations.

Mines and Minerals Act No 33 of 1992

In 1992 a new establishment called Geological Survey & Mines Bureau (GSMB) has been

established as a successor to the Geological Survey Department. The new institution was

established with the idea of expanding the mandate of Geological Survey Department and to

empower with new mandates, regulations etc. to execute control over certain operations.

The functions of the Geological Survey & Mines Bureau (GSMB)

The functions of the Bureau shall be-

(a) to undertake the systematic geological mapping of Sri Lanka and the preparation of

geological status maps.

(b) to identify and assess the mineral resources of Sri Lanka;

(c) to evaluate the commercial viability of mining for, processing and export of, such minerals;

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24

(d) to regulate the exploration and mining for minerals and the processing, trading in and export

of such minerals, by the issue of licenses;

(e) to advise the Minister on measures to be adopted for the promotion of the extraction and

production of minerals, on a commercial basis.

The powers of the GSMB

(1) The Bureau shall have the powers to do anything necessary for, or conducive or incidental

to, the carrying out of its functions.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers conferred by subsection (1), the

Bureau shall have the power;

(a) to acquire, hold, take or give on lease or hire, mortgage, pledge, sell or otherwise

dispose of, any movable or immovable property ;

(b) to enter into any contracts which are necessary for the proper exercise of its powers

and the discharge of its functions;

(c)- to appoint, terminate the employment of, remunerate and control, its officers and

servants;

(d) to issue licenses for the exploration, mining processing, transport, trade and export

of minerals ;

(e) to open, operate and close bank accounts, and borrow or raise money for the

purposes of the Bureau in such manner and upon such security, as the Board may decide

with the concurrence of the Minister in charge of the subject of Finance ;

(f) to charge fees for any services or facilities provided by the Bureau;

(g) to make rules in respect of the administration of the affairs of the Bureau; and

(h) to conduct training programmes and generally to do all other acts and things which,

in the opinion of the Board, are necessary to facilitate the proper discharge of the

functions and the exercise of the powers of the Bureau.

Acquisition of immovable property under the Land Acquisition act.

(1) Where any immovable property is required to be acquired for any purpose of

the Bureau and the Minister, by Order published in the Gazette, approves of the

proposed acquisition, that property shall be deemed to be required for a public

purpose and may accordingly be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act and be

transferred to the Bureau.

(2) Any expenses incurred in the acquisition of any immovable property under the

Land Acquisition Act for the Bureau shall be paid out of the Fund of the Bureau.

Restrictions in issuing of licenses.

(1) The Bureau shall not issue a license to any person to explore for, or mine any

minerals upon;

(a) any burial ground or cemetery within the meaning of the Cemeteries and Burial

Grounds Ordinance (Chapter 231), without the approval of the Minister and the

Minister in charge of the subject of Local Government;

(b) any land within such distance of a railway track, aerodrome, road, thoroughfare,

power line or other public work or public building as may be prescribed, without the

approval of the Minister and the Minister in charge of the relevant subject ;

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25

(c) any land situated within such distance of a lake, stream or a tank or bund within the

meaning of the Crown Lands Ordinance (Chapter 454), as may be prescribed, without

the approval of the Minister and the Minister in charge of the subject of Lands ;

(d) any wild life reservation, nature reserve, forest or park within the meaning of the

Crown Lands Ordinance (Chapter 454) without the approval of the Minister and the

Minister in charge of the subject of Lands ;

(e) any land situated within such distance of a catchment area within the meaning of

the Crown Lands Ordinance (chapter 454) as may be prescribed, without the approval

of the Minister and the minister in charge of the subject of Lands;

(f) the foreshore or sea-bed within the meaning of the Crown Lands Ordinance (Chapter

454) without the approval of the Minister and the Minister in charge of the subject of

Coast Conservation ;

(g) any land vested in any naval, military, or air force authority, without the approval

of the Minister and the Minister in charge of the subject of Defense;

(h) any land vested in any Provincial Council or a local authority without the approval

of the Minister and the Minister in charge of the subject of Provincial Councils.

Key Issues related to institutional set up:

One of the key functions of GSMB is to regulate the exploration of mineral deposits

and mining operations for extraction of minerals and processing, trading and export

of such minerals, through the issue of licenses. The Issue of licenses for sand

extraction, earth and rock excavation for construction purposes also considered under the

same function. This cannot be avoided as the definition (given in the act) for

minerals (“mineral" means a naturally occurring substance that can be mined,

whether in solid, liquid or gaseous form, in or below the surface of the soil” ;) cover

such functions too.

• Issue of licences for sand extraction, earth and rock excavation for construction

purposes also included within same powers but governed by the existing policies,

regulations, for protection of environment. However the requirement of EIA is only

practiced for bigger commercial level mining operations and minor and medium

scale operations, which are most widespread does not cover adequately within the

current provisions associated with environment safeguards. Thus the mitigation

actions for landslide occurrence or potential slope destabilizations associated with

such operations usually are not included under conditions of licences issued to

majority of licensees involved in small or medium scale operations.

• The Institutional set up within GSMB is such that the issue of licenses for

exploration and mining is carried out by the mining section within GSMB. In this

process no reference to landslide related problems of geology and geo-technology

nature, under the current institutional set up. Therefore the process should include

a mechanism to get the respective locations scrutinized by geologists of GSMB or

NBRO and estimate the possible consequences before granting approvals and issue

of licence.

• As per the existing regulations of GSMB, there is no provisions to involve NBRO

in the process of issuing licences for mining and excavation activities in landslide

prone areas in the country. Although the DM Ministry circular demands obtaining

NBRO’s assistance in land clearance for any development purposes within hill

country districts, it was evident that, the GSMB usually does not refer any cases to

NBRO as per the current practice(NBRO is not included under the act for reference

CHAPTER SIX

26

during licence issue process). Usually the licensee who has the permission for earth

and rock excavation should be made responsible to comply with technical guidance

or follow appropriate engineering practices to minimize potential for slope

destabilization due to excavations. The current process followed by the GSMB has

no such provisions.

• It is also revealed that, there is no provisions under the existing regulations of

GSMB to manage post excavation rehabilitation of the land and or safe removal of

large quantity of earth or rock debris.

National Policy on Elephant Conservation – 2006

The elephant has been so closely associated with Sri Lanka's history, culture, religions,

mythology and even politics that it would be difficult to imagine the island without it. Therefore

the present policy was developed to ensure the long-term survival of the elephant population

in the wild in Sri Lanka through the mitigation of the human-elephant conflict.

National Policy on Solid Waste Management

In view of various environmental problems arising out of inadequate delivery of waste

management services by the relevant agencies, the Ministry of Environment has recognized

the need for a national approach to handle this serious issue. Accordingly, a National Policy

for Solid Waste Management has been prepared to ensure integrated, economically feasible

and environmentally sound solid waste management practices for the country at national,

provincial and Local Authority level.

The main objectives of the policy are (a) to ensure environmental accountability and social

responsibility of all waste generators, waste managers and service providers (b) to actively

involve individuals and all institutions in integrated and environmentally sound solid waste

management practices (c) to maximize resource recovery with a view to minimize the amount

of waste for disposal and (d) to minimize adverse environmental impacts due to waste disposal

to ensure health and well-being of the people and on ecosystems.

The "Pilisaru" national solid waste management program has been articulated to translate this

National Policy into actions. Accordingly, a three year Action Plan aimed at achieving short

term strategic goals of the Policy has been formulated and implemented. In order to ensure

integrated implementation mechanism of the Policy, a national Apex Body entitled "the

National Platform for Solid Waste Management' has been established with a view to provide

overall guidance, national coordination and financial and technical program facilitation

through resources mobilization.


The Ministry of Environment and Mahaweli Development and the institutions coming under

the purview of the Ministry are mainly responsible for protection of environment and the

Natural Resources in the country. The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) which was

established in the year 1981 is the main regulatory agency controlling and guiding the

environmental aspects of specific development programs and activities in Sri Lanka including

industries, hotels and other infrastructure development. The CEA has five main technical

divisions (Environmental Pollution Control Division, Environmental Management and

Assessment Division, Environmental Education and Awareness, Planning and Monitoring Unit

CHAPTER SIX

27

and the Legal Unit) to regulate and control development activities in the country. It is also

responsible for preventing the pollutions caused by any development activity within the

country. The CEA has district and divisional level officers who are discharging their functions

at these levels.

With regard to the aspect of Solid Waste Management and its impacts on the environment, the

responsible agency is the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils. The Local

Authorities coming under the ministry ie: Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and ‘Pradeshiya

Sabhas’ do have powers and functions vested by them under the respective acts and ordinances

within their respective authority areas. Solid Waste Management is a key responsibility of all

the above three categories of LAs depending on the resources available, each local authority

carry out its solid waste management functions by adopting different solutions. The selection

of solid waste disposal sites and the techniques adopted in developing such sites would generate

impacts on the environment including soil erosion, inducing landslide risk, negative effects on

Flora and Fauna and water and soil pollution. It is evident that the local authorities located in

the hill country tend to generate most of the above mentioned negative environmental impacts

due to lack of technical capacity and knowledge on the environmental impacts created by their

actions.

There are some specific institutions established under the Ministry of LG&PC have already

started providing training and guidance to local authorities to manage their sold waste in

sustainable manner and to protect the natural environment. The National Solid Waste Support

Center, Sri Lanka Local Government training Institute functioning under this ministry provide

such training to the elected members as well as the officers of the local authorities. The Western

Provincial Council had established a Waste Management Authority (WMA) which has already

started a comprehensive solid waste management program covering the entire western province

of Sri Lanka. The WMA is closely working with the Central Environmental Authority and

other relevant government agencies for implementing the waste management program in a

more sustainable and environmental friendly manner.

The experiences of WMA (WP) would be shared with other provinces in order to promote

environmentally sound solid waste management practices which would also contribute to

achieve other national goals such as protection of environmentally sensitive areas of the

country.

6.4 Gaps and possible entry points

Among the many steps which have been introduced under the different laws to protect the

environment and natural resources, carrying out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

has been identified by the relevant government institutions as a preliminary step towards taking

the decisions on development activities which creates impacts on the environment.

As described in the Australian EIA Network, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is

a process of assessing the likely environmental impacts of a proposal and identifying options

to minimize environmental damage. The main purpose of EIA is to inform decision makers of

the likely impacts of a proposal before an implementation decision is made. EIA provides an

opportunity to identify key issues and stakeholders early in the life of a proposal so that

potentially adverse impacts can be addressed before final approval decisions are made.

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28

The legal framework for EIA process in Sri Lanka was laid down first by the Coast

Conservation Act No. 57 of 1981 but it was limited to a defined areas of coastal zone. National

Environmental (Amendment) Act no. 56 of 1988, introduced the ElA process to the entire

island. However, it is only with the publication of the required orders and regulations in 1993

that EIA process came to be fully operative in the country.

The EIA Process in Sri Lanka is clearly described in the Part IV C of the NEA Amendment

Act of 1988 and the Government Extraordinary Gazette No 772/22 of 1993. There are two

levels of EIA process in Sri Lanka based on the significance of the environmental impacts. The

first level defined as Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) which is carried out when the

potential environmental impacts are not significant. The second, more comprehensive study -

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) – is carried out when the project likely to creates

several significant impacts. The EIA process in Sri Lanka is limited only to development

projects which are listed as "prescribed projects" in the Gazette No 722/ 22, which are usually

defined by the type and magnitude of the proposed development activity.

Usually the EIA should be carried out through a structured process for obtaining and evaluating

environmental information prior to its use in development decision-making. This information

consists, basically, of predictions of how the environment is expected to change if certain

alternative actions are implemented and advice on how best to manage environmental changes

if one alternative is selected and implemented. Until recently, with a few notable exceptions,

the EIA process has focused on proposed physical developments such as highways, power

stations, water resource projects and large-scale industrial facilities. Slowly, but increasingly,

its scope of application is expanding to include policies, plans and other development

interventions.

However there are concerns expressed by the Disaster Risk Management professionals relating

to current EIA process. It is due to the fact that, the process is paying inadequate attention on

the outcomes of hazard risk assessment in the current EIA process. In particular this gap is

observed in large development projects as usual EIA process does not currently require a

conduct of a detail hazard risk assessment as a part of EIA.

In this context, currently the decision-makers are provided with inadequate information on the

anticipated consequences of hazards such as landslides, floods etc. It was also found that, less

attention is paid to make recommendations to reduce potential hazard impact. This inadequacy

will prevent incorporation of hazard risk mitigation aspects including the option of applying

nature based solutions in projects implemented in hilly areas as a component of an original

project design. This is often seen in road projects implemented in landslide prone hilly areas

and usually as a result the post project maintenance cost in road development in such areas

becomes very high.

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related to soil conservation, prevention of soil erosion and land degradation

7.1 How are the subject areas of Soil conservation, prevention of soil erosion and

land degradation connected to the scope of the task?

Soil erosion is one of the most contributing and widespread processes of land degradation in

Sri Lanka affecting the natural drainage systems, soil fertility, national food production as well

as natural ecosystems. Although it may not be considered in the same magnitude as above, the

landslides also can contribute significantly to the land degradation process in particular within

the areas with higher slope gradient. Soil erosion removes surface soil rich in nutrients causing

negative feedback on availability and productivity of agricultural lands, the water storage

capacity of the drainage network as well as retention capacity of reservoirs and water bodies.

Although soil erosion is a naturally occurring process, this has been accelerated by human

activities such as intensive agriculture, improper land management, deforestation and

cultivation on steep slopes.

Usually, some of the landslides or cutting failures initiated due to human activities such as road

and infrastructure development, house construction etc. generate loose soil mass which can get

eroded easily if such material is not removed from the failed slopes. Moreover this kind of

eroded soil due to improper engineering practices can be transported and deposited in the

natural drainage network during dry periods reducing the capacity. In the same way during

monsoon periods such material can get transported through water streams and deposited where

the slope gradient is lower. Heavier soil particles are the first to be deposited, while finer

particles may remain in suspension for a certain time. Soil removed by both the processes of

erosion and landslides may be transported directly to waterways or through natural drainage

systems and rivers increasing the flood risk in lower areas. Similar process can cause a

significant loss of productivity of the agricultural land.


Soil Conservation Act (No.25 of 1951, 29 of 1953)

An act to make provision for the conservation of soil resources, for the prevention or mitigation

of soil erosion and for the protection of land against damage by floods and droughts. It

empowers the Director of Agriculture to undertake surveys and investigations for the

purposes of ascertaining the nature and extent of soil erosion and of damage to land by

floods and droughts and enabling the Minister to determine the areas which should be

declared under this Act to be erodible areas.

As per the above Act, the Minister o f A g r i c u l t u r e may by Order publish in the Gazette

and declare any area defined as an erodible area for the purposes of execution of

regulations under this Act. The Minister may make regulations, to be applicable

either generally in all erodible areas, or specially in any specified erodible areas

requiring the owners of land to take measures designed to prevent or control soil

erosion, including measures for the afforestation of sources of streams and of the banks

of streams, for the reservation of a prescribed width of land free of cultivation along the

banks of streams for the conservation of the vegetation along the banks of streams, for the

treating streams by means of check dams or otherwise, and for the erection of contour ridges

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30

or terraces. Also the Minister can prohibit or restrict the clean weeding of land or other

agricultural practices conducive to soil erosion. The Minister also can restrict the use of

lands for agricultural or pastoral purposes, where such restriction is necessary for the purpose

of preventing or controlling soil erosion or of protecting the sources and banks of streams;

Minister may authorize any prescribed officer or person to give directions for seasonal

periodical changes in the type or nature of crops cultivated, or for the adoption or

alteration of cultivation practices for the purpose of promoting soil conservation and for

seasonal periodical changes in the type or nature of crops cultivated, or for the adoption

or alteration of cultivation practices for the purpose of promoting soil conservation.

The Soil Conservation (Amendment) Act, No 24 of 1996

The above Amendment was introduced to make provisions for the enhancement and substance

of productive capacity of the soil to restore degraded land for the prevention and mitigation of

the soil erosion, for the conservation of the soil resources and protection of land against damage

by floods, salinity, alkalinity, water logging, drought and to provide for matters connected

therewith or incidental thereto.

Establishment of the Soil Conservation Board:

The Board shall consist of following members who shall be appointed by the Minister in charge

of the subject of Agriculture

The Secretaries of the Ministries of Environment, Land, Mahaweli development,

Housing & Construction, Highways, Plantation Industries, Agriculture, Finance,

Provincial Councils, Mines & Minerals, Forestry and Irrigation

The Director General of Agriculture

The Director of Coast Conservation,

The Director General of Board of Investment,

The Director General of Urban Development Authority,

The Chairman of the Central Environmental Authority.

NGO representatives 02 nos. engaged in activities related to soil conservation.

A maximum of two professionals who have special knowledge in relation to the subject

of soil conservation.

Secretaries to the ministries of the Ministers in charge of the subject of Agriculture in

Provincial Councils

The Functions of the Board

(a) To propose measures, and coordinate activities, research and

programs relating to;

(i) the enhancement and the sustenance of the productive capacity of

the soil.

(ii) the restoration of the productive capacity of land which has been

degraded due to the lack of proper conservation measures.

(iii) the protection of land vulnerable to degradation.

(iv) the conservation of water and watersheds, in so far as it is

necessary for the conservation of the soil and the maintenance of

its productivity.

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31

(b) To prevent soil erosion resulting from non-agricultural activities

leading to;

(i) siltation or degradation of agricultural land of a degree

likely to affect the productivity of such land ;

and

(ii) Siltation of water bodies and irrigation systems

capable of supporting agricultural productivity;

(c) To ad minister and manage the soil Conservation Fund estab1.shed under the

Soil Conservation (amendment) Act.


The Natural Resources Management Centre (NRMC)

The Natural Resources Management Centre (NRMC) is mandated to optimize the use of land

and water resources on scientific basis to improve national agricultural productivity in a

sustainable manner. Changes in land use pattern with increasing population pressure, diminish

both the quality and quantity of land and water resources while climate change and its extreme

situations are exerting additional pressure on these resources. These issues are leading to

accelerated soil erosion, declining soil fertility, salinization and retardation of water availability

for agriculture and deterioration of soil and water. Therefore, development of technologies

targeting scientific utilization of conserving natural resources, particularly land and water

resources could be considered as vital.

The NRMC conduct research and development programs covering several disciplines.

Research thrust areas of the center are soil conservation and watershed management, land

suitability evaluation, agro-meteorology and climate change, geo-informatics and remote

sensing, productivity enhancement, soil and water quality assessments and on-farm water

management. Main development programs include implementation of the Soil Conservation

Act, maintenance of the agro-meteorological observation network of the country, technology

dissemination, provision of technical assistance and services in environmental impact

assessment of various development projects.

The functions of the Natural Resources Management Centre (NRMC)

Technical assistance to establish soil conservation structures in sloping agriculture lands.

Demarcation of contour lines for land development and establishment of soil conservation

measures.

Provide agro-ecological data

Technical assistance for restoration of degrading agriculture lands.

Assistance for productivity enhancement in agriculture lands of different agro-ecological

regions.

Provide technical assistance for designing micro-irrigation systems

Provide technical assistance for designing structures for protected agriculture

Advisory on on-farm water management technologies

Providing maps and other planning aids for other agricultural related development

programs

Conduct soil surveys and land suitability surveys for recommending suitable crops

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32

Conduct soil classification and land evaluation.

Technical assistance for land use planning at various scales.

Technical assistance on crop diversification for unproductive lands.

Provide technical assistance for establishment of water harvesting and irrigation structures.

Find appropriate locations for agro-well establishment using ground water availability

observation techniques and designing appropriate irrigation systems.

Giving assistance for mitigating environmental impacts for implementation of various

project such as land blocking out projects for residential purposes, mini-hydro-power

projects, landscaping, quarries, etc.

Preparation of soil monolith and models of soil maps for exhibitions.

Conduct awareness programs on natural resource management for school children,

university students, technical staff, farmers, etc.

o Farm plan design and development

o Soil conservation

o Watershed management and watershed based farming systems

o Agro-ecology and climate change

o Soil fertility management

o Map reading and interpretation

o GIS and remote sensing applications in agriculture

o Micro-irrigation and protected agriculture systems


Establishment of the Soil Conservation Board with the purpose of enhancement and sustenance

of the productive capacity of the soil, the restoration of the productive capacity of land which

has been degraded due to the lack of proper conservation measures and for the protection of

land vulnerable to degradation is a very progressive step by the Government of Sri Lanka.

The functions of the board may have direct contribution for the landslide risk management

programs in the country. But this aspect has not been considered as one of the focus areas of

the Soil Conservation Board. Therefore it is appropriate to consider inclusion on landslide risk

management as a focus area of the Soil Conservation Board.

The current institutional arrangement of the board is to convene the committee under the

Chairmanship of the Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and it has provisions to invite the

Secretaries of other relevant Ministries and Agencies. Therefore it is beneficial to invite the

Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster Management and the Director General of the NBRO as

members of the Board to ensure inputs on disaster risk management related development to be

incorporated in to the programs/actions of the Soil Conservation Board.

Current set up to convene the Soil Conservation Board meetings under the Chairmanship of

the Secretary, Agricultural Ministry with having provisions to invite the Secretary of the

Ministry of Disaster Management may not be practical since the landslide risk management is

not a prescribed item in the scope of the Soil Conservation Board. However, it would be

appropriate to include provisions to report the relevant and appropriate actions, policies etc. to

the National Council of Disaster Management (NCDM) by the NRMC’s board so that the

NCDM would be able to provide such information for integrating in to the national disaster

management plan and projects implemented by NBRO and other agencies within the purview

of the Ministry of Disaster Management.

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The Natural Resources Management Centre (NRMC) is mandated to optimize the use of land

and water resources on scientific basis to improve national agricultural productivity in a

sustainable manner. Most of the activities of the NRMC have direct relevance to landslide

disaster risk management in particular the activities undertaken in mitigating the erosion

susceptibility of land and protection of vulnerable agricultural land. It is especially important

as many of such activities are carried out respecting the nature based solutions. It is advisable

to set up a joint committee between the NBRO and NRMC to have an integrated plan of action

for the target districts by both agencies.

Both agencies, the NBRO and NRMC have a similar set of stakeholders and they do have

similar approaches for capacity building and community awareness creation. Undertaking of

joint training and capacity building interventions by both agencies, the NBRO and NRMC will

be more beneficial to the stakeholders and the country. It can be considered as a cost effective

practice to address the landslide risk management issues in the country.

These two agencies will be able to use their expertise (ie; NBRO possess experts in subjects

such as Geotechnical Engineering, Geology, Land use planning, and NRMC has experts in

Agriculture engineering, Agro-meteorology, plant technology, land use etc.) for common and

mutually beneficial research and setting up of a joint research and development program with

common objectives for creating enabling environment for applying nature based solutions to

reduce land degradation and to ensure sustainable land management.

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34


related to water resources management and conservation of water sources

8.1 How the subject area of Water resources management and conservation of

water sources is connected to the scope of the task?

Sri Lanka is a country which has 103 rivers running across the country. Of these river

basins, about 20 comes under perennial while the rest belonging to the category of seasonal

rivers. The magnitude of the river basins varied depending on the extents which range from

10 to 10,000 s q km. Geographically, the extent of land belonging to river basins is about 90%

of the total land area of Sri Lanka. Though there are no large scale natural reservoirs in Sri

Lanka, the country is rich with a number of manmade tanks and an irrigation canal system,

some of those tanks had been constructed centuries back and had been rehabilitated to the

present condition. It has been reported that, at present about 12,000 tanks have been spread

in Dry Zone areas. The extent of these tanks varies from 01 to 6500 hectares. However the

most of those tanks are less than 300 hectares in extent. In addition to the water sources

described above, a large number of springs is spread all over the island. In addition, the

aquifers laying within the inner limestone layers in the dry zone areas of the country are

prominent in Sri Lanka. These aquifers play a major role in fulfilling drinking and

agricultural water requirement of the country.

The catchments, source areas and reserves play a vital role in ensuring the sustainability

of the water sources described above. Especially it is important to protect the micro-

catchments in high altitudes by which the rivers are fed, tanks and catchments of reservoirs,

reservations of rivers and streams are served as the sources of water resources of the

country. These waster bodies are considered as the sources that balance the flow regime

and help in sustainable existence. The large scale earth moving practices such as excavation

of soil, sand and also mining in the catchment areas of water sources greatly contribute in

increasing the land degradation process due to erosion of land. This results in siltation of the

drainage system and water retention areas in the lower areas including reservoirs.

The large volume of soil and debris associated with landslide phenomena add to this when

there is no attempt to rehabilitate the affected areas immediately after occurrence of landslides,

as the material tend to get transported freely in to downstream areas. In addition the

inappropriate construction practices on hill slopes (when carried out through excavation and

dumping of excavated material on the slopes) also contribute by way of increased erosion

potential of the associated material. There is a significant contribution due to bank failures or

cutting failures in cut slopes associated with house and infrastructure development projects in

hilly areas. In particular there is a significant contribution towards degradation of water

catchment areas due to the removal of vegetation cover, excavation and exposure of

unsupported cuttings. This situation is evident in development activities where inappropriate

construction techniques are often being employed in construction during road expansion

projects in hilly districts in the country.

Considering the negative effects of the utilization pattern of the country’s water catchment

a r e a s , it appears that the protection a n d c o n s e r v a t i o n o f the water sources is a

fundamental requirement for the sustainability of both the surface water bodies and ground

water aquifers.

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35


Water is one of the main natural resources in Sri Lanka and it is the main factor which

contributes to the country`s economic development process in the past, present and in future.

The Sri Lanka’s economy had been mainly based on agricultural economic practices and the

irrigation system had a unique contribution towards its economy from the historical time to the

present. In spite of that, the water resource have become prominent resource in industry,

services sector, consumption (drinking) as well as recreation activities and tourism. The water

resource also has been use in hydro power generation in Sri Lanka in a significant level.

Therefore policy environment related to the water resources management and conservation of

upper catchment areas has been considered important to ensure the quantity and quality of

available water resources to meet the demand of development sectors.

During the colonial period, British rulers introduced various acts related to the management of

land and water resources from time to time. The Irrigation Ordinance No 32 was enacted in

1856 by the British rulers to provide the necessary legal framework for meeting the water

demand for cultivation.

Currently, there are over 50 acts of parliament which have been passed to provide legal

provisions in relation to water sector, including water supply, water quality, drainage, irrigation

and environmental conservation. These laws have been enacted over time to meet specific

needs and priorities emerged during such periods. It is evident that, the government has created

new institutions or assigned responsibilities to the existing institutions to implement the

provisions of these laws. Some of the common features of water resource management policies

in Sri Lanka as pointed out by critics attributed with confusion of policies, overlapping

responsibilities, duplication of activities, conflicting jurisdictions and difficulties in

implementation. The laws related to the water sector in the country from the colonial times has

not been paid due attention for promoting conservation practices in upper watershed areas as

there was a general perception of water abundance in the country. In the recent times there is a

wide acceptance about the depleting water resources and also about degradation of the

catchment areas, siltation of water retention areas and reduction of the capacity of water

sources. This situation has led to initiate some policies which are aimed to address the priority

needs in upper watershed management.

The amendment to the National Environmental Act of 1980, has for example made some efforts

to control the degradation of watersheds through soil conservation by the initiation through the

mandated Government institutions in 1988. Furthermore, the revision of the National

Environmental Plan in 1994 recognized the importance of effective conservation and

management of sensitive watershed areas. In 1996, the Government approved an amendment

to the Soil Conservation Act of 1951 to give the Soil Conservation Board the responsibility to

ensure inter-agency coordination to implement soil conservation programs. The Act

discourages the cultivation of agricultural crops in all areas above 1,500 meters elevation. To

further protect the forests, a nationwide logging ban was imposed in 1990 and the Government

approved the Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP) in 1995. The Forestry Sector Master Plan is

currently being implemented to emphasize: (i) adoption of integrated watershed management

and planning based on an assessment of land capability, (ii) empowering people and the rural

communities to manage and protect forests for multiple uses for their own benefit, (iii)

developing home gardens and other agroforestry systems, (iv) developing and strengthening

forest-based institutions and building partnerships through community-based organizations

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36

(CBOs) representing rural societies and groups, and (v) promoting forestry as a means of soil

and water conservation

The Central Environment Authority was given wider regulatory powers for pollution control

(including water) by the amended Acts No 56 of 1988 and No 53 of 2000. Lack of coordination

between land-use activities (controlling deforestation, the application of excessive fertilizer

and chemicals, accumulation of excessive animal wastes, etc.) and water management is also

an issue, even though the CEA has been active in controlling industrial pollution through

various monitoring activities of industries after the licenses awarded are considered to be

inadequate (Climate Change Secretariat, 2010).

The Mines and Minerals Act (No 33 of 1992) empowers an owner or occupier of any land or a

licensee authorized in terms of the act to produce and consume mineral water in or from such

land for his or her personal use.

The Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL) implemented the Upper Mahaweli Watershed

Management Project (UMWP) for soil conservation and watershed management purposes in

coordination with other implementing agencies. The objectives of the project was to “take

necessary action to ensure ecologically acceptable management of the natural resources in the

catchment areas of the Mahaweli River”. The UMWP has taken initiative to map the land users

within the upper watershed area of Mahawli and to cluster agriculture associated land users

that contributes greatly to land degradation and erosion. They have undertaken public

awareness raising activities including the promotion of Sloping Agriculture Land technology

(SALT), sericulture, drafting conservation plans and promoted mixed farming of crops and

livestock to address the needs for reducing the adverse effects. For example due to efforts of

UMWP farmers have abandoned cultivation of some of the unhealthy crops for higher slopes

such as tobacco cultivation.

The UMWP could contribute meaningfully the compliance with the policy in restricting

cultivation in all areas above 1,500 meters elevation and restricting deforestation illegal timber

extraction from upper watershed areas. The UMWP through its research activities have made

important conclusions in analyzing the contributions of agriculture and engineering practices

towards soil erosion and siltation of water sources. They have made a conclusion that the

agriculture related erosion potential is much lower than the erosion associated with engineering

practices including cutting failures due to road construction, landslide associated debris flows

etc. and emphasized the need for mitigating the above situation through appropriate policy and

practices.

A draft National Policy on Protection and Conservation of Water Sources, their Catchments

and Reservations in Sri Lanka has been prepared in February 2014 by the Ministry of Land and

Land Development. Unfortunately it is yet to be approved and implemented. This policy

recognizes the availability of several other overlapping policies and laws pertaining to the

conservation of water sources such as National Policy on Watershed Management, National

Land Use Policy, National Forest Policy, National Environment Policy etc. but provides

additional strategies in concurrence with above policies for strengthening the policy

environment for conservation of water sources, reservations of water ways, catchments of the

reservoirs / tanks etc. The main objective of this draft policy is to protect and conserve all the

water sources, its reservations and closest catchment areas to ensure the safe existence of the

CHAPTER EIGHT

37

water sources in Sri Lanka. The above mentioned draft national policy has provided some

progressive directives towards,

Determination and demarcation of the limits / boundaries of water sources and their

catchments and legally declaration of such areas.

Conservation of the lands in the areas demarcated as water sources and their

catchments and related reservations regardless of the ownership of such lands.

Avoidance of inappropriate use of land in the areas related to water sources through

the preparation of land use plans.

Rehabilitation of the degraded lands in the areas related to water sources.

Identification of amendments needed in existing laws and legislations and introduce

new laws with regard to the protection of the areas related to water sources, if

necessary.

Need for paying attention on protection and conservation of the areas related to

water sources when preparing all the development plans including regional

development plans.


The Irrigation Department (ID), established in 1900, is responsible for managing major

irrigation system and inter-provincial schemes. It is also responsible for administering the

Irrigation Ordinance. It has a wider mandate for administering major irrigation systems,

development of new irrigation schemes, reconstruction, rehabilitation and expansion of

existing irrigation schemes and flood control. Unfortunately the mandate of the ID for land use

control, management and promotion of conservation practices in upper watershed areas with

the purpose of flood risk reduction is unclear.

Since independence in 1948, agrarian laws pertaining to the operation and maintenance of

minor irrigation have been changed several times in Sri Lanka. Consequently, the responsibility

of managing minor irrigation has also changed from one institution to the other. Various new

strategies have been introduced since the late 1980s to solicit farmer participation and to

reintroduce traditional water management practices.

The Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL) is in charge of managing water resources under

its purview, as specified in the MASL Act No 23 of 1979 (the Mahaweli River Basin as well

as several other hydrologically connected basins and special areas). The MASL act provides

power to apply a holistic perspective and a comprehensive approach to resource-based social

and economic development, including irrigation and water management, land development and

settlement, agricultural development, post-settlement activities, watershed management and

environmental conservation. The MASL implements the Upper Mahaweli Watershed

Management Project (UMWP) for soil conservation and watershed management purposes in

coordination with other implementing agencies and involved in mapping of land users, analysis

of degradation potential of specific land uses and promoting Sloping Agriculture Land

technology(SALT), sericulture, drafting conservation plans and promoted mixed farming of

crops and livestock to address the needs for reducing the adverse effects.

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38

The National Water Supply & Drainage Board (NWSDB) Act No 2 of 1974 and its subsequent

amendments empower the NWSDB to provide safe water supply to domestic, commercial and

industrial premises and to provide a safe sewerage system. The Ceylon Electricity Board Act

No 20 of 2009 and its amendment provide rights to the Ceylon Electricity Board to use water

for electricity generation.

The Water Resources Board (WRB) was established under the Water Resources Board Act No

29 of 1964 with the broad mandate of advising various aspects of water resource management

to the relevant subject minister and, more importantly, to play a coordinating role of various

line agencies. The WRB is also given the mandate of advising the minister regarding the

preparation of plans for the conservation, utilization, control and development of groundwater.

However, the functions of the board are limited to the development of groundwater resources.

The Central Environment Authority (CEA), which was formed under the National

Environmental Act No 47 of 1980 has the mandate for protecting and managing the

environment. The subject of Environment management has somewhat a distance relationship

to the theme of conservation of upper watershed areas and nature based solutions. The current

mandate of CEA can be subdivided further in to conservation, management of aquatic

resources, and mitigation of impacts. The responsibilities for management and compliance lies

with government agencies such as Sri Lanka Land Reclamation & Development Corporation,

Cost Conservation Department involved in the conservation of aquatic ecosystems (including

the conservation of areas which hold them). Central Environment Authority (CEA), has the

mandate for mitigating the impact of developmental activities on water resources and

conservation of forest in partnership with other agencies which plays similar roles and services

such as Mahaweli Authority, Ministry of Lands, Forest Department, Provincial Councils and

local authorities.

Regarding NGO involvement, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

plays a significant role in aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity conservation. A more recent

private sector initiative is the business and biodiversity platform, which is a knowledge

platform jointly organized by the IUCN, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Dilmah

Conservation. The objective of this initiative is to set up a place where businesses can come

together to share experiences and best practices, learn from their peers and voice their needs

and concerns to strengthen the link between the business sector and biodiversity conservation.

The Global Water Partnership (and the Sri Lanka Water Partnership) works towards the

advancement of the integrated water resources management (IWRM) strategies, for which

environmental management (mitigation of pollution, watershed protection, conservation,

wetland management and reducing unregulated rivers and mining) are major focus areas.


For many years in the past, the water sector policies of the country have not given due

prominence for promoting conservation practices of upper watershed areas. If the degradation

is persistent, the capacity of water sources will rapidly be reduced due to excessive siltation,

and this will bring about further reductions in availability of water for different water sector

services including hydropower generation. The degradation of watersheds and the siltation it

causes currently, also reduces the capacity of natural drainage network and irrigation canals

and that can lead to other problems such as flooding during excessive precipitation events.

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39

It is an alarming finding of the Upper Mahaweli Watershed Management Project (UMWP)

that the siltation in water bodies related to engineering associated fields including landslides

(as many of the landslides are caused due to manmade reasons) is getting higher due to many

development work taking place within the hilly areas. Therefore, NBRO should cultivate

healthy partnership with the water sector institutions mentioned above and try to initiate

integrated programs with multiple purposes including landslide risk management.

There are initiatives in mapping of land users and controlling the adverse activities that

increases the soil erosion and siltation in upper watersheds such as the Upper Mahaweli

Watershed Management Project (UMWP). It is advisable for NBRO to work closely with such

institutions and share information on vulnerable slopes to ensure compliance with regulatory

practices that reduces the ill effects of land degradation.

The major constraints in ensuring the adoption of appropriate watershed management practices

have their origin in social factors, institutional inadequacies, and an inappropriate policy

environment. Most farm lots in steep upland areas are smaller (less than 0.25 ha in size) area

wise and famers are engaged in small scale agriculture which brings higher profits. Because of

such erosion prone farming practices, the topsoil is getting eroded, resulting in the depletion of

soil fertility and declining crop yields. Farmers offset the resulting low income by growing

more erosive but highly profitable crops such as potatoes. Thus, the farmers in these areas are

largely responsible for the severe degradation of the environment, especially in terms of soil

erosion, trigger of shallow landslides due to selection of inappropriate cultivation practices in

vulnerable slopes. There is a potential entry point for NBRO to work with other relevant

institutions in the water sector to promote nature based solutions in most vulnerable land

parcels.

The NBRO may consider undertaking joint research programs with relevant agencies to

propose better varieties of crops (which must be a viable alternative to cash crops currently

being cultivated in such areas) and nature based practices such as Sloping Agriculture Land

technology (SALT), sericulture, mixed farming (commercially viable alternative agriculture

crops with good root systems that penetrates deeper in to soil layer and livestock) for reducing

the adverse effects.

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40


related to Disaster Management

9.1 How the subject area of disaster management is connected to the scope of the

task?

More than 13,000 km2 (more than 20% of the land area of the country) within thirteen (13)

administrative districts of Sri Lanka are considered to be prone to landslides and around 42%

of the total population of the country is living in these districts. In the recent past, it is observed

that the factors such as urbanization, rapid population growth, inappropriate land management,

extensive land degradation due to uncontrolled anthropogenic activities etc. have significantly

contributed in intensified occurrence of landslides within various parts of the hill districts. The

main legal instrument for Disaster Risk management, Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act No

13 of 2005, recognizes landslide as one of the major types of natural hazards, from which the

country had significant impacts in terms of physical, social, environmental, economic nature.

Therefore it is essential to undertake appropriate policy initiatives for establishing a better

institutional mechanism for propagating risk management practices through establishing a

better culture for landslide disaster risk management in the country for future resilience

building.


Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act No 13 of 2005 had enacted by the Parliament on 13th May

2005 and addresses the subject area of disaster management holistically and provides the legal

framework for disaster management in Sri Lanka. The Act provides for the establishment of

National Council for Disaster Management (NCDM) and Disaster Management Centre (DMC)

as the implementing arm of the Council. The Act mandates the Council to prepare the National

Policy on Disaster Management, National Disaster Management Plan, and National Emergency

Operation Plan and empowers DMC under the direction of NCDM to coordinate the disaster

management activities of all agencies. The Act provides for the President to declare state of

Emergency during national level disaster occurrences and provides responsibility to all relevant

government organizations to develop a Disaster Management Plan to respond to and prepare

for disasters or pending disasters. The Act lists 21 natural and human induced and technological

hazards affecting Sri Lanka.

The DMC had prepared a National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) and Emergency

Operation Plan (NEOP) for the period of 2013-2017 and has obtained the approval from the

Cabinet of Ministers. In approving the above mention plan the Cabinet had directed the

Ministry to prepare an Action plan to implement strategies identified in the NDMP 2013-2017.

Accordingly the Sri Lanka Comprehensive Disaster Management Plan 2014-2018 was

prepared and implemented to minimize the disaster risk of the country. DMC is in the process

of developing the next 05 year NDMP for the period 2018-2022 and an action plan in line with

the SFDRR supplementing to its targets and priority actions to manage disaster risk and

incorporating principals of build back better. All the relevant stakeholder agencies in the

government sector are required to prepare Institutional level Disaster Management Plans based

on the National Plan to respond to potential disasters. In the same way the National Emergency

Operation plan has also been submitted to Cabinet for approval. Accordingly DMC will have

to operationalize the plan by conducting regular exercises to identify gaps and take corrective

actions.

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The Ministry of Disaster Management (MoDM) is in the process of amending the Disaster

Management Act to address the emerging needs and for enhancing the authority of the agencies

to improve the effectiveness. Coordination with stakeholder agencies in state sector, NGOs,

Private organizations, media, academia donor agencies including the UN agencies are expected

to contribute to efforts of the government by minimizing the duplications and mobilizing

necessary resources for ensuring effective emergency response.

National Disaster Management Coordinating Committee (NDMCC) was established in 2007

as the National Platform for coordinating activities implemented by large number of

stakeholder agencies. The NDMCC is chaired by the Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster

Management and expected to conduct monthly meetings of the committee. Disaster

Management Centre provides the secretarial services. However, it was evident that the

NDMCC has not been meeting regularly during the past few years and as a result severe gaps

have been observed in the coordination mechanism. This need was evident during the floods

and landslide events in 2016 and 2017.

At District level, the District Secretary chair the coordination meetings, where all the

stakeholder agencies including NGOs working at district level participate actively for

monitoring of the programmes implemented by them at district level.

Other relevant legislations and policies

Several Natural forests have protected the central hills from major landslides. However the

clearance of forest for commercial purposes, cultivation, setting up settlements, infrastructure

etc. has changed the situation. Exposure of the earth surface to sun and rain has resulted in soil

erosion. National Physical Plan and Policy effective until 2030 has categorized the central hills

as fragile areas and recommended to limit the development within the area. There are several

national policies, legislative enactments and measures described in the previous chapters

dealing with conservation of forest, water resources management, prevention of land

degradation due to soil erosion, maintaining better land management through risk sensitive land

use planning, sustain environment and natural resource etc. which contribute indirectly but

benefit in a positive way to aid Management of disaster risk in the country.

In the same way there are sub-national level policies and enactments which also support the

natural hazard risk management. For an example the Central province has developed and

approved Standard By-Laws on Disaster Management to be adopted by Local Authorizes to

empower them to take action to manage disaster risk in the local authority areas. Central

Provincial Council has approved and gazetted a Standard By-law for Regularizing, supervision

and control of disaster Management in Local Authorities in the central province. Once adopted

by the Local Authorities, as in the case of Kandy Municipal Council, it has powers to

regularize, supervise and control the construction of buildings including houses in areas prone

to hazards within the Kandy Municipal council area. Since landslide is the major and most

frequent type of hazard within the province it is expected that such policies to help in landslide

risk management in the province.

National Policy on physical planning and mandate provided to Local Governments under

the same

The policy recognize the Local authority (LA) as the planning authority of the area under their

jurisdiction and require them to consider all hazard parameters in local planning process to

CHAPTER NINE

42

preserve the physical environment. This Policy also provide for obtaining guidance from

relevant technical institutions, to identify disaster prone areas and formulate comprehensive

plans to address the disaster risk management issues in the area.

Regulatory functions of Urban Development Authority (UDA) over urban local

governments

All the Municipal Councils and Urban Councils of Sri Lanka are declared under the UDA Act

and require any developer to get the approval from the Mayor or Chairman of the respective

local authority to construct houses or undertake any development activity within the

jurisdiction of the Local Authority. The powers to control the development has been delegated

to the Mayor and or Chairman of relevant ULAs by the UDA. The UDA has declared more

than 200 Urban Centers in Pradeshiya Saba (PS) areas under UDA act and approval from the

Chairmen of PS is required to construct houses or to undertake any development activities

within such declared areas has become compulsory.

Housing and Town Improvement (H&TI) Ordinance

The H&TI ordinance is applicable to Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Town Councils

areas. The Mayor or the Chairman is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the Ordinance.

Thus, The Mayor and or the Chairman has the powers to approve plans for construction of

houses and other development activities within the authority area of the council based on the

provisions of this ordinance. However, there was no provisions to regularize or control the

construction of houses in village council areas. The Pradeshiya Saba Act enacted in 1987

amalgamated the town council and village council areas and created the Pradeshiya Saba area.

It is also evident that some Pradeshiya Sabas’ do not engaged in strict regularization of

construction activities in more rural and remote villages located within PS areas due to practical

reasons such as non-provision of physical infrastructure into such remote areas.

9.3 Institutional arrangement for Disaster risk management

The Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act No 13 of 2005, facilitate for the establishment of

National Council for Disaster Management (NCDM) and designate various other agencies to

assist the Council to implement disaster management programme including landslides related

programmes in Sri Lanka. The functions of the council are to formulate and implement

policies, plans and coordinate activities of ministries in the event of a disaster. Disaster

Management Center (DMC) is responsible for formulation and implementation of disaster

management & emergency operation plans, maintaining 24/7 emergency operation center,

dissemination of early warning messages, creating awareness and responding to disasters.

National Disaster Relief Services Center (NDRSC), provides relief and coordinate national and

international emergency relief. Meteorological Department (MoD) provides meteorological

services. Whereas the National Building Research Organization (NBRO), established in 1986

continue to develop landslide hazard maps covering 13 districts, undertaking landslide

investigations, loss and damage assessment, forecasting and providing technical assistance to

issue landslide early warning, issuing land clearance certificates, guidance on human settlement

planning, socio-economic studies in landslide prone areas, etc.

National Council for Disaster Management: Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act No 13 of

2005 empowers the establishment of an apex body, chaired by the President of Sri Lanka in

the form of a National Council for Disaster Management (NCDM). It has all powers to sanction

policies to manage disaster risk, provide guidance and authorize coordination of disaster

CHAPTER NINE

43

management activities in the country. The other members of the council are Ministers in charge

of 21 subjects, Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and Chief Ministers of nine provinces

and five members of the opposition political party. The Act mandated the Council to approve

the National Policy on Disaster Management, National Disaster Management Plan, and

National Emergency Operation Plan and monitor the implementation of said plans. The

Council also can designate any state sector agency as appropriate organization to perform any

duties and to assign different set of responsibilities aimed at responding to, mitigating of and

prepare for any future hazardous event. The Council can advise the President to declare state

of disaster if the magnitude of disaster exceeds the coping capacity of the country. The council

requires to meet on quarterly basis and monitor the progress of programmes implemented by

DMC and other agencies and address issues relating to coordination and implementation of

disaster management programmes. In the event of declaration of state of disaster, the Council

could appoint appropriate authorities to respond to disasters.

Ministry of Disaster Management: The Ministry is responsible for supervision and

monitoring of activities of Disaster Management Center (DMC), Department of Meteorology

(DoM), National Building Research Organization (NBRO) and National Disaster Relief

Services Center (NDRSC) which are functioning under the preview of Ministry of Disaster

Management established in 20152.

The Functions assigned to the Ministry included:

Formulation of policies, programmes and projects, monitoring and evaluation in regards to

the subject of disaster management.

Coordination and management of activities in relation to mitigation, response, recovery,

and relief

Formulation of National Disaster Management Plan, National Emergency Operation Plans,

Initiation and coordination of foreign aided projects for disaster management

Liaison with ministries, government institutes and agencies, private institutes, Local and

international non- governmental organizations,

Promoting housing construction with technological standards, to withstand environmental

hazards,

Encouraging research and development into appropriate technology for housing and

construction sector

Meteorological surveys and research

Forecasting of natural disasters and sensitizing relevant sectors regarding them,

Co-ordination of awareness programmes on natural and manmade disasters

Implementation of measures for rescue operations,

Coordination of international humanitarian relief services

Department of Meteorology (DoM) is the main provider of weather and climate related

services and maintain sub offices at regional level and airports.

National Disaster Relief Services Centre(NDRSC provides relief to disaster victims, assist

in early recovery process, facilitate the release of housing assistance to rehabilitate damaged

houses, conduct public awareness program, strengthening the information communication

system. NDRSC has an officer station at Divisional Secretary Offices to assist the Divisional

Secretary in relief distribution and recovery activities.

2The gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary no. 1933/13 – 21 Sept. 2015

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44

Disaster Management Centre (DMC): The Act provides for the establishment of DMC to

implement decisions taken by the council and functions listed in the Act under the Council. As

the implementing arm of the Council. DMC is responsible for preparing national disaster

management plan and national emergency operation plan, Coordinate the development of

hazard maps and risk profiles, coordinating and conducting awareness programs, assisting to

prepare disaster management plan for national and sub national level agencies and public

sector institutions, dissemination of early warning messages, coordinating emergency response

and relief, establishing emergency communication systems, promoting mitigation activities,

mainstreaming DRR in to development and reporting to the Council on regular basis. District

Disaster Management Unit of DMC headed by Assistant Director and five assistants support

District Secretary to manage pre and post disaster activities

National Building Research Organization (NBRO): The NBRO is responsible for

promoting research, safer built environment and technical services for Disaster Risk Reduction.

It has established sub offices in 10 districts which are prone to landslides. NBRO has been

established under the Ministry of Housing and Construction as per the decision of the cabinet

of ministers in 1986 to assist the housing sector agencies and built its capacity to undertake

research and development functions in related disciplines. Subsequent to a several incidents of

landslides, experienced in 1980s, considering its capacity to handle Geotechnical Engineering

studies and research, the NBRO was assigned with a new mandate to investigate and study

landslides, develop hazard zonation maps and report on the landslides occurrence in the

country. In order to enhance NBRO’s capacity a project for Landslide Hazard Zonation

Mapping (LHMP) has been initiated by UNDP/UNCHS providing technical and financial

assistance from 1990 to 1995. Subsequently after 2003 devastating landslides and floods in

Rathnapura, Galle and Matara districts, the Cabinet of Ministers had decided that the NBRO

should get involved actively in providing recommendations to establish risk free, safer and

Sustainable Human Settlements in the country. Subsequent to the establishment of the Ministry

of Disaster Management (MoDM), in December 2005, the NBRO was placed under the

purview of the Ministry of Disaster Management in 2007. In 2010, NBRO was mandated to

issue Land Suitability Certificate and provide Recommendations on safer and resilient

construction to all local authorities (Municipal Councils, Urban Councils, and Pradeshiya

Sabhas) in selected districts in Sri Lanka. It was made obligatory to consider the

recommendations of NBRO in issuing Land Suitability Certificate, prior to granting permission

for any type of construction within the specified districts.

Current roles and functional areas of the NBRO in relation to Landslide Disaster Risk

Management

Landslide studies & services

Landslide hazard mapping,

Landslide Investigations, hazard assessment

Applied research on risk mapping, cost effective landslide risk reduction measures,

construction technologies, etc.

Undertaking design and execution of geoengineering mitigation measures for hazard-prone

areas,

Human settlement, socio-economic studies, etc. in landslide prone areas,

Analysis of precipitation levels and provide technical guidance to DMC to issue landslide

EW,

Setting up precipitation thresholds and implementation of community-based EW

mechanism for communities at risk in coordination with District offices of DMC

CHAPTER NINE

45

Studies on suitability of land for building, construction and execution of development

projects and provide recommendations,

Capacity building and awareness creation


The current legal status of the NBRO is a significant weak point and a hindering factor for

NBRO to function and expand its activities in to new areas like nature based landslide risk

management. The current legal status desired to be improved to make NBRO a fully

operational legal entity and establishment that will cater to multiple requirements in terms

of technical capacity in landslide risk management. There is a significant delay in

finalizing the draft Act of NBRO which had been drafted few years ago. It has to be

finalized soon and approval of relevant authorities should be obtained so that Parliament

enactment process will start soon and the Parliament approval is granted;

The stream of Nature Based Solutions for landslide risk management is new to many

countries and not developed much as compared to geo-engineering and structural

engineering streams. The Nature Based solutions can take up seriously if the knowledge

base can be improved within the country. It is essential to establish a separate unit for

undertaking research and demonstration activities on nature based solutions that will

enhance the knowledge base significantly.

Recruitment of necessary high caliber research and technical staff who will be able to take

up nature based solutions as one of the main interventions for reducing or mitigating the

landslide risk in appropriate landslide affected or areas with risk potential is essential.

Review of the current Cadre positions and suggest recruitment of new cadre with essential

qualifications to enable the institution to perform better in the area of nature based

solutions is a priority in creating enabling environment for undertaking nature based

solutions in landslide risk management. This will also include adding new categories of

staff (such as botanists, plant scientists, agricultural engineering specialist’s landscape

planning specialists, etc.) to the existing cadre of NBRO.

Currently there are limited provisions for undertaking joint research programs with other

institutions where similar interest exist such as forest department, NRMC, etc. Such

research avenues should be exploited and if successful extended.

It is essential to organize programs by NBRO for capacity building and community

awareness creation as a routine practice to promote nature based solutions by engaging

relevant stakeholders.

Develop knowledge products to disseminate the concept of nature based solutions in

landslide risk management. Conservation practices and specific knowledge related to the

subject should be shared with others and it is essential to organize forums (such as

seminars, landslide symposium etc.) to share the experience;

Networking with International and Regional agencies with similar interest and

responsibilities and avail advisory services of reputed International agencies for capacity

enhancement, when and where necessary.

CHAPTER TEN

46

10.0 Possible approaches/solutions to improve the legal, regulatory and

institutional arrangements to create an enabling environment for nature-

based landslide risk management solutions

i. There are many instances where the highly vulnerable areas are being abandoned due

to landslide occurrence or due to relocation of vulnerable people living in high landslide

hazard prone areas. Also there are areas where undertaking engineering solutions for

landslide risk management is not possible or not feasible due to cost effectiveness or

due to other reasons of socio-economic nature. Similar problems exist in areas

designated by land use policy planning department as reservation areas or vulnerable

or fragile land where existing land use need changes to make such land more productive.

In the same way NRMC and agricultural authorities take special efforts to reduce

erosion potential and reduce land degradation in certain land within the highlands. The

forest department has ambitious program to increase the forest cover within the country

and mountain districts are one of the priority areas for undertaking forest conservation

programs. The Ministry of Environment is keen to safeguard the environment and

natural resources through executing the EIA process in development planning.

Therefore there seems to be number of government institutions working with similar or

parallel objectives and compatible interests. But as per the current institutional set up

they are working under different ministries under different sectoral policies and there

is no proper institutional arrangement for integrated approach where all government

efforts need to be unified and impact can be enhanced through a unified mechanism.

ii. Establishment of a high level Multi-agency or Multi-ministerial Committee with

necessary authority and capacity aimed at coordination, addressing multiple problems

in integrating programs and promoting nature based solutions for various sectors

including hazard risk reduction will be appropriate in order to unify the government

efforts and optimization of resources and investment. It is also essential that such

Committee can be empowered to prepare integrated action plans, take steps to reduce

policy overlaps and address gaps in related policies, monitor compliance with policies

and plans, look after grievances of beneficiaries etc.It can be an added responsibility of

the existing National Council for Disaster Management headed by HE the President.

iii. It is necessary to integrate the subject of landslide disaster risk management in an

appropriate way in to the scope of the subject areas described in various ordinances

such as Land Use Planning , Forest conservation, Soil Conservation, State Land

Ordinance, Urban Development, Town and Country Planning Ordinance, Mahaweli

Development program, EIA process etc. and create an appropriate Institutional set up

for unifying the efforts and for getting maximum benefits as well as to control

development activities which may increase the landslide risk due to activities prescribed

under the respective regulations as permissible.

CHAPTER TEN

47

iv. Currently structural mitigation solutions (such as geo-engineering, structural

engineering etc.) and non-structural mitigation solutions (such as land use planning,

resettlement, capacity building, awareness creation etc.) are recognized as viable

solutions for landslide risk management. It is necessary to recognize Nature Based

solutions or hybrid solutions undertaken in combination with others as a different

stream and capable of offering a set of viable, cost effective and environmentally

friendly solutions for Landslide Risk management for certain problems that cannot be

addressed utilizing popular structural and non-structural mitigation interventions.

v. The current legal status is a significant weak point and a hindering factor for NBRO to

function as the mandated institution for landslide risk management and to expand its

activities. Similar problem seems to be in existence with other agencies such as land

use policy planning Department, NRMC etc. as they lack mandates for certain

functional areas they handle currently. It is essential to provide mandates for respective

institutions, through accelerating the enactment process currently under consideration

by submitting the draft acts to Parliament for approval. This will improve the legal,

regulatory and institutional arrangements to create an enabling environment for

undertaking nature-based solutions for addressing intended problems including

landslide management.

vi. The studies undertaken by some agencies (such as Upper watershed land use planning

division of Mahaweli Authority, LUPPD, NRMC etc.) have shown that agriculture

initiated erosion has been significantly reduced over the years due to awareness created

for introduction of appropriate crops in upper watershed areas. However the erosion

related to engineering practices and manmade interventions including landslides has

increased significantly. They have pointed out that the removed mass after road cutting

failures and landslide debris are directly moved eventually in to lower areas and making

a major contribution to suspended sediments in river water in the upper watershed areas

in particular in Mahaweli catchment area. The NBRO and other agencies should

discuss these issues with relevant agencies such as Road Development Authority,

Divisional Secretariat Office and Local Authorities etc. for introducing precautionary

measures. The nature based approaches would offer appropriate solutions to reduce

construction related erosion and reduce the potential risk of landslides.

vii. Currently different agencies are in possession of useful datasets that can be shared

between agencies for mutual benefit. Few such examples are: landslide hazard zonation

database maintained by NBRO, GIS database on forest plantations (FORDATA)

maintained by Forest department, Land use database maintained by LUPPD, database

on land uses within the upper watersheds by Upper Mahaweli Watershed Management

Project (UMWP) under MASL, etc.

CHAPTER TEN

48

viii. The landslides recorded in Rathnapura, Kaluthara, Kegalle districts show some

inclination for newly executed rubber plantations, tea plantations etc. to become

initiation points in triggering landsides. Many landslides have been developed in areas

with new plantations developed after removing old rubber plantations and such areas

tend to be more vulnerable to slope destabilization.This issue could be taken up by

NBRO with Rubber Research Institute, Tea Research Institute, Industrial Technology

Institute (Bio-technology division) and other relevant organizations to introduce ways

of changing the practices adapted in planning and implementation of new development

projects.

ix. Establish a better coordination arrangements between NBRO and other agencies for

research, awareness creation, capacity building etc. as the institutions empowered to

undertake nature based solutions for different aspects can directly and positively

contribute to landslide risk management. The NBRO and Ministry of Disaster

Management must have a well-coordinated effort for resource sharing for above

activities with other relevant agencies under different ministries for creating enabling

environment for promoting the application of nature based solutions. If such institutions

can consider landslide risk management in their planning and take initiatives to

undertake joint programs for research, capacity building, awareness creation etc. which

would pave the way for more effective program implementation. Where possible,

efforts should be made to initiate integration across programs undertaken by such

government agencies and among related other sector based stakeholders. Because

different agencies have until recently evolved largely independent of each other, in

practice they are not often undertake well-integrated programs for research, capacity

building primarily due to legal and operational limitations. The resulting redundancies,

gaps, inefficiencies, and at the most basic level, confusion, can significantly impact the

country’s or community’s ability to achieve progress of intended development

programs.

x. Expand the functions of NBRO to include focused capacity building mechanism to

create awareness of stakeholders on landslide risk management. In recent years while

there has been a notable progress in the development of general capacities to manage

disasters within the country, the gains have lagged in relation to specific technical areas

such as management of landslide disaster risk. As well it has become a concern that the

landslide disaster risk management related capacity development also not carried out as

a regular endeavor and even adhoc programs that are in existence do not adequately

cover the capacity development needs of all the stakeholders. Therefore the NBRO

should initiate efforts to build the capacity of other relevant stakeholders through

undertaking regular capacity building programs on landslide risk management and

nature based solutions for landslide risk management in Sri Lanka.

CONCLUSIONS

49

11. Conclusions

One of the Key findings of this study is, the availability of laws, regulations and policies related

to protection and conservation of the natural environmental resources in Sri Lanka. It is also

revealed that most of these laws, regulations and policies are connected with overlapping

responsibilities and approaches to address the issues of environmental protection and

conservation. These policies also have a main focus on ensuring sustainability of the natural

environmental resources through application of nature based solutions to address the concern

issues. Some of the prominent policies in this regard are National Policy on Watershed

Management, National Land Use Policy, National Forest Policy and National Environment

Policy. Policy overlaps related to the above areas cannot be avoided as the objectives of each

are quite similar and cover specific tasks and disciplines. However the positive aspects of such

policies is that, it helps to create an enabling environment for promoting application of nature

based solutions to protect and conserve the natural environmental resources.

The study also has revealed that, there are a number of existing institutional arrangements

created by the government to have multi task policy dialog and appropriate actions in order to

minimize the policy overlaps, duplication of tasks and more importantly to share the

information and optimize resources allocations to relevant government agencies. Some of these

high-level task forces are being chaired by H.E. the President of Sri Lanka while some are

chaired by relevant ministers or secretaries in order to ensure integrated and effective decision

making process. Some of these institutional arrangements are National Council for Disaster

Management, Soil Conservation Board, and National Platform for Solid Waste Management,

National Physical Planning Council etc. serve as examples for such high-level mechanisms.

Such high-level mechanisms can be used for promoting nature based solutions to protect and

conserve the natural environmental resources including landslide risk management.

When considering the subject area of nature based solutions for landslide risk management in

Sri Lanka, it can be recommended that the Ministry of Disaster Management may direct the

National Building Research Organization (NBRO) to initiate a collaborative partnership with

relevant institutions to develop a program to promote nature based solutions to landslide risk

management in Sri Lanka. Some of such institutions that have been identified through the study

as the potential collaborative partners of NBRO for promoting the application of nature based

solutions are: Natural Resources Management Centre (NRMC), Forest Department (FD),

Timber corporation, Land Use Policy Planning Department (LUPPD), Central Environmental

Authority (CEA), Upper Mahaweli Watershed Management Project (UMWP) of the Mahaweli

Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL), Water Resources Board (WRB) etc.

Since such institutions have already implemented programs with certain applications of nature

based solutions in their respective functional areas of mandate, the NBRO has the opportunity

to learn from their past experiences. It would be appropriate for the NBRO to understand the

process, challenges and limitations of the present approaches and to pay attention so that they

can address such challnges. Specifically it is important for NBRO to identify specific areas or

instances, where there is a potential for the application of nature based approaches for landslide

risk management in the future.

The collaborative arrangements can be developed for undertaking joint research programs

including, staff capacity building, stakeholder awareness creation and implementation of

demonstration projects in partnership with such government institutions. It would be essential

CONCLUSIONS

50

to organize experience sharing workshops on application of nature based solutions on

environmental protection and conservation including landslide risk management. The existing

knowledge platform jointly organized by the IUCN, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and

Dilmah Conservation can be considered as an appropriate initiative in this regard. It is also

recommended that, if the donor agencies such as the World Bank (WB), UNDP etc. would pay

attention to organize such knowledge sharing platforms and events.

Currently, the public sector institutions and NGOs are involved in several programs to promote

community participation in their implementation. Few examples are “Community Forestry

Program (CFP)” initiated by the Forest Department, Aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity

conservation initiated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This

kind of participatory approaches can be introduced to the programs on nature based solutions

to protect and conserve the natural environmental resources including landslide risk

management under the proposed collaborative arrangement by the NBRO.

REFERENCES

51

12. References

1. Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act No.13 of 2005

2. Draft Act to provide for the National Building Research Institute, 6th April 2016

3. Draft Act to provide for the National Building Research Institute, 3rd May 2017

4. Cabinet paper No. 07/0435/343/0 02 No. 116 dated 16.06.1986 authorizing NBRO

conduct landslide investigations, reporting and hazard zonation mapping

5. Cabinet paper No. 03/1372/111/061 on joint Memorandum dated 17.07.2003

Development of Risk Free Sustainable Human Settlements by Implementing

Recommendations of National Building Research Organization (NBRO) through the

Development Planning Process

6. Cabinet Paper No. 93/340/173 dated 29th Sep. 1993 Establishment of NBRO under

ICTAD

7. Cabinet paper No. 07/0435/343/002 dated13.03.2007 Placing NBRO under the purview of

Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights

8. Cabinet paper No. 10/3053/548/002 dated 23.12.2010 NBRO to issue Landslide Risk

Assessment Reports for construction and development projects in landslide – prone areas

9. Cabinet Paper CP No. 10/1053/414/004 dated 02.06.2010 Instructing Leal Draftsman to

prepare necessary legislation to grant legal status to NBRO

10. Cabinet paper No. 13/1829/548/012-1 dated 25.06.2014 - Comprehensive Disaster

Management Plan of Sri Lanka (2014 – 2018) - Implementation of CDMP by relevant

Ministries / Government Institutions

11. Gazette No. 1933/13 - MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2015, Duties and functions of the

Ministry of Disaster Management

12. Mahaweli Authority Act no.29 of 1973

13. Program document of the Mahaweli development program document,

14. Fauna & Flora protection act,

15. Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. No.2 of 1907 (FFPO)

16. Forest conservation act(and amendment No. 65 of 2009),

17. Forest Conservation Ordinance 1908 (amended in 2009)

18. Wild Life protection act

19. Forest Master Plan of 1995,

20. Plant Protection Act No. 35 of 1999 (replacing Plant Protection Ordinance No.10 of 1924),

21. Working Paper No. APFSOS II/WP/2009/29 – Sri Lanka Forestry outlook study, FAO

regional office for Asia and Pacific, Bangkok 2009

22. REGULATIONS made by Minister of Agricultural Development and Agrarian Services

under Section 95 read with Sections 22, 23, 25 and 26 of Agrarian Development Act, No.

46 of 2000, Gazette notification No. 1585/15 - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2009

23. The National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980 and the amendments: Act No. 56 of 1988

and Act No 53 of 2000, EIA process,

24. The National Watershed Management Policy of 2004,

25. Draft National Policy on Protection and Conservation of Water Sources, their Catchments

and Reservations in Sri Lanka (2014)

26. Environment protection act,

27. Geological Survey & Mining Act,

28. Sri Lanka National Physical Plan- 2011 – 2030

29. Land Development Ordinance – No.19 of 1935,

30. Town and Country Planning Act No. 49,

https://www.ecolex.org/details/legislation/fauna-and-flora-protection-ordinance-lex-faoc022041/?

REFERENCES

52

31. Town and Country Planning Ordinance No. 13 of 1946,

32. The Soil Conservation Act No. 25 of 1951 and Amendment in 1996,

33. Act on Soil Conservation and Prevention of soil erosion and land degradation(draft 2013)

34. Land Reforms Commission Act No 01 of 1972,

35. Land Reform Law of 1972,

36. Agricultural Land (Management) Regulations No. 01 of 2009, Gazette notification No.

1585/15 - WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2009

37. Urban Development Authority Law No 37 of 1978, as amended by subsequent Act No. 44

of 1984 and Act No. 4 of 1992,

38. Land Grants (Special Provisions) Act – No. 43 of 1979,

39. Road Development Authority Act No. 73 of 1981,

40. State Land (Recovery of possession) Act – No. 07 of 1979,

41. Strategic Development projects Act No. 14 of 2008,

42. Sri Lanka National Physical Plan 2011 – 2030 and Project Proposals, National Physical

Planning Department, Ministry of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing &

Common Amenities, Sethsiripaya, Battaramulla, March 3, 2012.

43. https://www.doa.gov.lk/NRMC/index.php/en/

44. http://www.nbro.gov.lk/index.php?lang=en

45. http://luppd.gov.lk/

46. www.forestdept.gov.lk/index.php/en/

47. http://www.cea.lk/

48. Samad, M., Aheeyar, M., Royo-Olid, J., & Arulingam, I. (2016). THE POLITICAL AND

INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT OF THE WATER SECTOR IN SRI LANKA.

International Water Management Institute Sri Lanka.

https://www.doa.gov.lk/NRMC/index.php/en/

http://www.nbro.gov.lk/index.php?lang=en

http://luppd.gov.lk/

http://www.forestdept.gov.lk/index.php/en/

http://www.cea.lk/

Documents

Report under Task B Assessment of relevant legal