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| Sunday, 20 March 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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March 22 is World Water Day : Which way the water flows? by Shanika Sriyananda J. Punchihewa and his family depend on the meagre earnings for their living from paddy cultivation. As their one acre ancestral paddy land was divided among his four brothers, today he has only 40 perches to cultivate.
These farmers who use rain water for chena cultivation, and are worried about the news that the rain water will also be priced under the new National Water Policy. The government, even in its election manifesto pledged not to sell even a drop of water, while the Minister of Agriculture promised to 'vacate his post' if the government goes ahead with plans to privatise water resources. A tug-of-war between the two parties - the JVP and the government - within the same UPFA government has brought forth two water policies by two ministries - the Mahaweli Development and the Agriculture and Irrigation. The two ministries claim the ownership of the country's water resources. According to eco-groups, the Ministry of Irrigation had formulated a policy which they called the 'Sinhala only and the first indigenous water policy' and the Ministry of Mahaweli Development had drafted one under the instructions of an international donor agency. However, the 'sinhala only' water policy, prepared by a team of local experts is now gathering dust. The donor influenced water policy has been approved by the Cabinet. The environmentalists claim that the water resources will definitely be privatised under this policy. However, at a time when Sri Lanka is joining hands with world communities to celebrate the 'World Water Day' on March 22, the proposed 'National Water Policy' is still a hot debate in the country. People, especially the poor urban dwellers and the farmers who cannot afford to pay for water are clamouring to know the reality of the country's water resources. Secretary, Ministry of Mahaweli Development T. M. Abeywickrama clearing these doubts said that there was nothing in the policy about fixing a price tag for water. "Privatising water resources is a rumour and pricing rain water is a big lie", he said. "This policy is to identify the areas which need water and to introduce a proper management of water resources. No one can deny the fact that we are mis-using water resources and wastage is high", he added. However, while denying the claim that the government would not try to sell rain water, he said that a separate policy was needed to conserve rain water. According to Abeywickrama, water should be priced when natural resources are used for commercial purposes. "This does not mean charging a fee from the farmer. Drinking water or irrigation water is free of charge as usual. There is no owner for the country's water and it will continue to be a public commodity", he stressed. But, large companies which extract massive amounts of water for bottling will be charged under the new Water Policy. According to Abeywickrama, there are some companies, which bottle over 35,000 litres per day. "These companies claim that they bottle from natural springs. But the truth is they extract water from tube wells. Bottling water is a very profitable business today, as they do not have to pay a cent for the massive extraction of water. Is it a crime to charge a fee from these multi national companies ? he asked. He alleged that NGOs who spread rumours about the Government charging a fee from the consumer were business partners of these companies. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Mahaweli Development has decided to hold workshops and seminars in each district to educate the public about the reality of the 'National Water Policy'. All political leaders, government officials involved in the water sector, NGOs, academics and students from selected districts will participate in these programs. They will be given a chance to submit their comments. According to Abeywickrama, public comments, from the four corners of the country, received during the workshops will be evaluated when reviewing the final Policy. "The committee comprising experts of four Ministries will consider these comments and include important recommendations into the final draft", he added. Meanwhile, the Centre for Environmental Justice said that the tug-of-war between the two ministries will delay the introduction of a scientific water management policy, which should have clear regulations for river basin management, ground water control, water quality, water shed enhancement and proper sanitation. According to Hemantha Witanage, the main objective of the new water policy is to encourage Public-Private Partnerships in water resource management. "The Public-Private Partnership is only a synonym and is based on several myths: The Public Sector is not efficient, The Private Sector is better than the Public Sector, the government has no capital and the private sector is the engine of growth. But we have the same experience that the private sector has had and the same failures", he pointed out. "Water facilities in Manila, Philippines and Jakarta, Indonesia have shown that these parivatisations have become failures and now these governments spend millions of public funds to recover them," Witanage pointed out. According to Witanage, under the new National Water Policy, water rights will be transferable and appropriate instruments will regulate large scale water users in order to safeguard small scale water users. " It also states that management cost will be recovered from water allocated to bulk water users. We know single farmers are not bulk water users but farmer organisations are bulk water users", he added. He said that getting public comments about the Water Policy was useless as it had already been approved by the Cabinet and these comments might not make any difference to the policy. Efforts to resolve Human Elephant Conflict : Elephants under surveillance by Dr. Dayananda Kariyawasam, Director Dept. of Wildlife Two elephants in and around the Yala National Park, are currently under surveillance through GPS or Global Positioning System Technology. One, a young male, has been named 'Kavan', after the illustrious King Kavan-Tissa who ruled the Ruhunu Kingdom more than 2000 years ago.
The other, an adult female, has been named 'Biso-Menike' as she belongs to a group known to the researchers, led by the matriarch 'Biso'. These elephants are being tracked by the Department of Wildlife Conservation and scientists from the Centre for Conservation and Research, in an effort to develop a strategy that will better conserve elephants and mitigate the human-elephant conflict. Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) causes the death of over 150 elephants and 60 people in Sri Lanka each year. A much greater number of elephants and people are injured and maimed as a result of conflict. In addition to the conservation issue posed by the threat to the survival of elephants, danger to life and limb of farmers, and losses to their livelihoods and property, makes HEC a major socio-economic issue. While elephant conservation has traditionally focused on protected areas, HEC occurs where humans and elephants live side by side, hence entirely outside such areas. In Sri Lanka as in the rest of Asia, the main strategy employed to address the HEC and conserve elephants has been the restriction of elephants to protected areas. To this end, elephants have been translocated from areas opened up for agriculture, through elephant drives and chemical immobilisation and transport, into protected areas. Formerly in Sri Lanka, a system of protected areas linked by corridors, to which elephants were restricted, was envisaged as the solution to HEC, as well as elephant conservation needs. This strategy was based on the then available information on elephant movements and ecology, and the idea that elimination of elephants outside protected areas, would resolve the HEC. It also assumed that the entire elephant population in Sri Lanka could be accommodated within the protected area system. However, such assumptions have now been proven to be incorrect, and both in Sri Lanka and the rest of Asia, this approach has failed to adequately address the HEC and conserve elephants. Over the past decade, Sri Lanka has emerged as the leader in research into Asian elephant biology, ecology and conservation. Research findings have shown that our protected area system is inadequate to accommodate the current population of elephants, and that attempting to restrict them to it, is not a viable strategy for elephant conservation or mitigating the HEC. Therefore, it has become imperative that we look for alternative strategies to both mitigate the HEC and ensure the conservation of the Sri Lankan elephant. Based on previous research on elephant, ranging and ecology conducted in Sri Lanka through VHF (Very High Frequency) radio tracking since 1995, the Department of Wildlife Conservation in collaboration with the Centre for Conservation and Research, has embarked on a search for new, more successful approaches to elephant conservation and mitigation of HEC. A scientific study of the ranging and ecology of elephants would indicate ways and means of mitigating HEC and conserving elephants. Unlike African savannah elephants, Asian elephants are forest animals. Therefore varies practically impossible to study by direct methods, hence the inaccuracy of previous assumptions on which management was based. One of the few successful ways of studying Asian elephants is through radio telemetry. Over the past decade, under research programs conducted in Sri Lanka, 18 elephants have been tracked through VHF telemetry. VHF tracking is done through the installation of a collar with a VHF transmitter on an elephant. Such collars transmit a continuous signal at a frequency of around 200 MHz. This signal can be detected over a radius of about five km from the transmitter, using a radio receiver tuned to the particular frequency transmitted. The animal is located with the aid of a directional antenna, similar to a TV antenna. However, locating wild elephants through this method is extremely labour intensive. Since elephants range over areas of around a hundred km, the number of locations that can be obtained per animal per month is generally about 5-10. In addition, unless the animals are directly observed, estimation of animal locations can have an error of about 500 m to 1 km. Therefore one cannot obtain sufficient information on specific micro habitat use by animals, frequency of raiding, or use of resources such as water, through this method. Recent developments in the field of GPS (Global Positioning System) have made this technology available for tracking animals and it provides a much better alternative to VHF tracking. GPS is based on a system of 24 orbiting satellites which send out signals. Based on the reception of these signals from a minimum of four satellites, the position of a receiver anywhere on earth can be calculated with great precision, down to a few metres. This technology is now used in a great number of applications, including communications, recreation, fisheries and wildlife management. For tracking animals, a collar with a GPS receiver pre-programmed to collect location data at a given date, is installed on the animal. The collar also incorporates a mechanism of transmitting the locations to a receiver. One of the commonly used methods is transmission of the recorded location data to a satellite which in turn relays the data back to earth. This can also be done through the cellular phone network. The GPS system allows the collection of many hundreds of data points, precise down to a few metres, per month, in contrast to the 5-10 locations with errors of up to 1 km, possible through VHF tracking. While the VHF system requires the collared elephants to be approached to within a few km distance to obtain a signal, the GPS collars automatically send the data to the computer of the researcher. Thus, the difference in the quantity, quality and the ease of acquisition of data between the VHF and GPS systems is enormous. The two elephants 'Kavan' and 'Biso-Menike' have now been tracked for three months. Already the project has provided critical information for the management of elephants outside Yala, such as identifying the paths they use to travel between the park and the outside areas, habitat utilisation, crop raiding etc. This information is being utilised to develop a management plan for
elephants outside protected areas which will help mitigate the HEC and
conserve elephants for the future, both in Sri Lanka and the rest of Asia.
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| Produced by Lake House |
Facing many problems, such as lack of quality seeds and fertilizer,
drought, poor market opportunities and low price, a novel worry has now been
added to their long list of worries. The whole farming community is now in
distress over the news that they will have to 'pay for water' used for
irrigation. 
