Chapter 1

Principles of Environmental Management

1.1 Status of environment

Environment is rapidly changing as a result of human and geological

influences resulting in chaos and hazards. This raises the need for a
study of environmental management, which not only attempt to
conserve and protect, but utilise environmental resources with the best
available scientific methods and technologies. Environmental
management began as a response to major problems like air pollution,
water pollution and soil erosion. It is clear that all the environment
problems around us are linked to these three basic damaging activities.
However, we cannot conserve as we like and the rising populations
demand that more and more resources are to be utilised if these people
are to be provided the basic necessities of life.

1.2 The traditional environmental management

The traditional environmental management is based on the reduction

of environmental impacts. Establishment of Strict Natural Reserves,
Protected Forests and Grassland, Sanctuaries etc was the aim of this
first stage of environmental management. However this phase has to
mature into a more organised way of managing the environment if we
are to feed the rising populations and provide employment.

1.3 The new environmental management

The new environmental management treats environment as a multi

faceted resource with enormous capacity to provide many types of
items from a single unit of the resource. Here the resource is blended
in to the systems of economic development, where each and every
product can acquire a value. For example, a tree was treated as
sources of wood or crop or a unit in the protection of water source in
the old system of environmental management system. Today a tree is
part of a harvest system which produces wood, wood chips, compost
raw material, preserve water and soil. Then a tree is treated as an
object to interfere with and looked after according to the principles of
forest harvesting. Within the technology of forest harvesting tree is
checked for disease regularly, cleaned to avoid fungi formation,
broken or damaged parts or branches of the tree (by wind, rain and

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animal action) are removed and cut at the prime maturity level to
obtain the best wood or wood chips for paper industry.

In addition concepts of environmental change and change of

environment are also considered as important in the study of new
environmental management.

Environmental change is the process of changing environment through

human activities with the use of technology, social and political
ideology. For example the ancient civilisation of Sri Lanka was based
on the concept of irrigation and a strong monarchical rule, which
arranged the environment to suit the sustainability of a hydraulic
civilisation. Since the arrival of western colonists, the environment of
Sri Lanka was changed to suit the cultivation of tree crops and spices.
We are still in this environment and begun to introduce an unplanned
urban and rural settlement expansion. Therefore our environment is
becoming more and more polluted, dangerous and chaotic to live.

Change of environment is the change of living environment by

migration for the purpose of living and economic activity. Migration
to farm settlements, urban areas and emigration results in change of
environment. Again if these activities are not planned properly, the
new environment is subjected to pollution, becoming dangerous and
chaotic to live. When emigration is not conducted in a proper manner
the emigrants are subjected to many legal and social difficulties.

The holistic view of the environment is utilised in the new concept of

environmental management, where value of economic activity is
weighed on the basis of its long-term sustainability within the
environment. Therefore the new concept is constantly linked to
agriculture, industry, investment, monetary policy, livelihoods and
economic planning. This enables the environment manager to begin at
the point of investment and end at sustainable control (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1, Flow of activity of the new environmental

management system

Investment programme

Environmental – natural and societal resources

Sustainability

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 Economic, social and institutional policies

Government agencies and other resources users

1.4 Theoretical background to principles of environmental
management

Environmental management is required to organise and utilise the

environmental resource with optimum benefits to the populace. In the
process of this organisation and utilisation system two major principles
are to be followed.

1. Understand the dynamics of natural and societal systems of

resource utilisation and the effect of degradation on them

2. Understand the causes of the degradation and management

systems best suitable for control, recovery and rehabilitation -
natural and human

1.4.1 Understand the dynamics of natural and societal systems of

resource utilisation and the effect of degradation on them

This is the primary task of environmental manager because

without a proper understanding of the dynamics of natural and
societal systems of resources utilisation and the effect of
degradation on them the manager cannot provide the direction
required for the progress of the users.

Firstly there is the presence of ever changing nature of value

of natural and societal resources based on the technology
available. It is now clear that the traditional measures of
national income have a very limited relationship to the well
being of people. This is primarily a result of not accounting
from the depletion of non-renewable resources and
degradation of renewable resources. For example unless net
capital formation is higher than the natural resource depletion
the economy and well being of the people are degraded. This
is exactly the situation almost all the poor countries of the
world including Sri Lanka.

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There are two major forces in action in a given environment in
the formation of economic and social activities: Physical
systems and societal systems. These two systems should
operate on a highly complementary state if there is success in
the programme of environmental management.

The physical systems operate on the principles of natural

sciences and form many types of resources consist of material
and energy. For example amount of water available in a given
country is of utmost importance to its development. The
amount of water available in a given country is related to its
rainfall, runoff and storage. This amount of water changes
over space and time. For example in Sri Lanka, its ancient
civilisation depended on a total forest cover of the highlands,
which enabled them to receive large quantities of spring water
to the rivers flowing across the plain. At that time there was
slightly higher rainfall in Sri Lanka, runoff was low due to
thick forest cover and storage was high due to non-clearance
of upper catchment forests and well designed settlement plan.
Since the movement of civilisation to the wet zone, gradually
the highland forests were destroyed and today Sri Lanka is an
area of constant water shortages. This is due to inability of the
present environmental managers to understand the true
dynamics of the water supply system of Sri Lanka. The
designs of the countries where problem of water is minimised
indicate that the holistic view they have incorporated into their
environmental planning has yielded expected results. These
planning systems utilise the value of upper catchment
conservation and settlement planning as an integral part of
conservation of water. Modern settlement utilise massive
quantities of water and water supply in them cannot be
maintained well without recycling of water.

1.4.2 Understand the causes of the degradation and

management systems best suited for control, recovery and
rehabilitation - natural and human

Once the change is properly identified the environmental

manager has to investigate the causes of the degradation
systems and the management systems best suited for control,
recovery and rehabilitation. Principal cause of degradation is
the process of human development based on development
ideology. Two major development ideologies have been used
since the industrial revolution to develop human environment
with the utilisation of natural resources.

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1. Modernism or modernisation
2. Alternative development

1.5 Modernism or Modernisation

The modern development theory is known by various names
like modernisation, neo-classical approach, and development
perspective and as neo-colonialism in the political arena of
some developing countries. The most commonly used term is
the modernisation.
The modernisation theory is based on the Keynesian ideology,
which paved way for a new idea of the role of the government
in managing the economy (Preston 1996, 154).
Keynes was of the belief that government borrowings can
finance expenditures, which in turn would generate more
revenue and these additional revenues and higher tax returns
from increased revenue can be used for the repayment of
borrowings. Therefore, the modernisation theory believed in
authoritative intervention, through the use of economic growth
models and aid mechanisms.
The modern development theory is based on the experiences
of the western world and its economics, sociology, political
and scientific views and the poor countries were to follow this
method for their development. Many on the basis of a
structural and dynamic programme, with stages and
categories, explained this theory.
Rostow (1960), presented a model based on five stages, which
are to be experienced by all societies in the transformation of
their economy from undeveloped to develop. It assumes that
the increased production leads to growth and that the
redistribution of capital will occur in the process of growth.
The capital accumulation, growth of labour force and
scientific and technological advancement are woven into the
process of development through five major stages given in this
theory. This theory remained a pre-eminent theory of
modernisation in the early 1960s (Preston, 1996).
The major criticism against Rostow's theory was that it was
principally an economic programme, which did not consider
the historical aspect of the development process in the
developing countries or their colonial type relationship with
the western developed nations. Firstly, the newly independent
developing countries were not able to guide themselves
towards their economic goals due to social and political
problems associated with the formation of new states as given
in Hettne, (1990). Hettne (1990) was of the view that
development is a national goal that cannot be separated from

5
 other political goals and has to be treated as equal to political
goals.
Secondly, the inability of the new states to identify their
priorities of development as well as high levels of official
corruption did not enable the capital accumulation, scientific
development or growth of a skilled labour force.
Lund (1993) is of the view that after independence colonies
were unsuccessful in economic improvement and local elite
was busy keeping themselves in power, fighting neighbours or
suppressing rebellions.
Crew and Harrison (1998) and Dube (1988) identify the
Eurocentric nature of the modernisation paradigm, as a major
factor for its failure in the developing countries. Crew and
Harrison, (1998) indicate that rationality, the search for
objective truth, and a movement towards modernity was
expected in the ideology but not practised in the developing
nations.
Therefore, the criticisms of the modernisation paradigm have
been extended to include its heavy dependence on economic
theory and the failure to understand the complex social
situations. However, the modernisation remained a powerful
tool in development planning in the developing countries well
into the late 1970s, mainly because its utilisation by the
international development agencies and funding authorities.
There was no serious discussion of the modernisation theory until the
early 1970s and environmental degradation was becoming a problem,
because role of spatial variables and geographical contexts were not
considered important Lund ( 1993).
She reiterates the validity of the cultural and historic factors of
development in a discussion of the newly industrialised countries of
Asia and relates this development to a pre-modern or modern
phenomenon in the Rostowian sense. A continuation of this process of
change into the 1970s is related to the rapid growth of Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh, which was curtailed by the recession in the west in the
1980s.
The crisis faced by the modernisation theory led to the
formulation of some alternative perspectives of development. Though
these approaches have some change in the secondary strategies, they
still believed in the transformation of societies, international
exploitation and domination. The intention was to make a more
service oriented development and aid redistribution of wealth. Within
this framework, there was a struggle in the poor nations and some tried
to establish socialist societies, while others worked towards national
capitalism.
The dependency school formulated the underdevelopment
theory through the writings of many radical researchers, which

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contained the elements of Marxist language, mode of analysis and
ideological and theoretical projects (Aina, 1993). This wing was
headed by Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin, Walter Rodney and a
host of others, and which has been called the underdevelopment
theory, which is Neo-Marxist in formation. (Aina, 1993).
A parallel to the theory of under-development, the problems of
modernisation were discussed in the structural Marxism originating
from the French school of Marxist studies. This theory explained the
importance of class relations in the development and gave a strong
critique of capitalism and explained the process of development with
the use of impeccable logic and convincing inter-linkage.
These two variants managed to introduce alternatives to the
modernisation on social transformation, production and political
organisation and became popular in the undeveloped world as it gave a
deep critique of capitalism, colonisation and neo-colonial imperialism.
Frank (1966:31) presents the best overview of this group of theories,
which studies the overall exploitation of the satellite states by the
central powerful industrial states. His view was that the industrialised
countries have become rich through the exploitation of the poor
countries.
It is pertinent to look at Myrdal (1970), who brought forward
the concept of circular cumulative causation, which became popular
through the notion of vicious cycle of poverty. He regarded the
development as a social process and stressed that the power structures
of the developing world have to be changed either by evolution or
revolution as a prerequisite for development. He further explained that
this should be followed by changes in orientation on the part of the
developed world.
However, the modernisation paradigm survived in the
developing world as a major instrument in the process of development
from its beginnings to 1980s and the influences of theories of
underdevelopment and Marxist alternatives were not capable of
making a marked impact. This is a result of the strong presence of
nationalism, ethnicity and corruption in the developing world , which
were more easily accommodated within the modernist capitalist
philosophy (Aina, 1993). Giddens (1991) claims that the inability of
the theories of underdevelopment to consider cultural and political
factors in detail may have led to their weaknesses. According to Lund
(1993), the renewal of interest in the modernist thinking was initiated
by the rise of a few newly industrialised countries in the East Asian
region. These countries have used joint ventures with multi-national
or trans-national companies and have built an export oriented
industrial base, which led to the transformation of the economy . A
similar rapid growth was noticed in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the
early 1980s. However, it should be noted that this rapid growth and

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diversification was mostly associated with the financial and tariff
support given by the industrialised countries.

1.6 Alternative development

The continuing poverty of the developing world led to a

rethinking of the validity of the modernist and dependency theories
and a search for a better alternative of development discourse. The
Cocoyoc conference in 1974 discussed the idea of sustainable
development and the international foundation for development
alternatives (IFAD) recommended the establishment of a humanist
model of development (Friedmann, 1992)
Following the above attempt, in the 1980s, along with
ecological crisis and poverty, which threatened not only the
developing world, but also the developed world, many world
gatherings were convened to find a serious alternative to the current
development strategy. The need for a paradigm, which can focus on
the ways of improving the productivity of poor through social,
economic and political empowerment, became vital. Therefore, the
alternative development approach became action oriented based on
humanistic and post-structuralism methods.
The alternative development therefore, brought forward
practises like provision of basic needs, informal sector utilisation and
redistribution of wealth. This is a result of the recognition of the
importance and dignity of the ordinary people over the
institutionalised systems. However, the response to this ideology was
slow, because most of the developing nations were either holding onto
neo-Marxist theories of development or embroiled in corruption and
regional conflicts. Lund (1993), indicates that the alternative
development was not utilised well because it was too optimistic, and
not capable of providing rapid solutions to development problems.
The difficulty to see the clarity of the many faces of the initial
alternative development paradigm, resulted in the establishment of the
notions of empowerment, sustainability and participation.
As Friedman (1992) explains, the people in their pursuit of life
and livelihood needs to acquire three kinds of power: social, political,
and psychological. This is conducted by the households, which are
production centred and public. In the discussion of the politics of
alternative development and the existing power imbalances in the
world today, Friedmann (1992) indicates that the capacity of the
alternative development to depend on the local social, political and
psychological situations.
The participatory strategy in development can also be discussed within
the alternative development, because the development within it
demands for citizen participation (Friedman, 1992). The origin of the
participatory strategy can be traced back to the late 1960s and early

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1970s in rural development work (Aina, 1993). This has been mainly
in operation in micro-scale projects and exhibit some difference to
empowerment.
The alternative development has not indicated that it is capable of the
establishment of a better process of development and the developing
world is still immersed in poverty or getting poorer than before.
There are many debates on the nature of the development paradigm
needed for the two worlds, developed and developing.
The modern development has had major negative impacts on the
environment and on
existing social structures. Many livelihoods have been seriously
affected by
excessive use of forests, water systems, and fisheries. Urban areas in
developing countries suffer from serious pollution and congestion in
transportation, poor quality water, and solid waste disposal problems.
By 1990 it was clear that if this damage is not checked properly it may
retard development of these areas. Then the occurrence of massive
destruction through increased intensity of cyclones, landslides and
droughts resulting from El Nino effect between 1990 and 2000
prompted the World Organisations to take note of effects of global
warming resulting from the process of development in the highly
industrialised countries of the world.

World Bank President James Wolfensohn and chief economist Joseph

Stiglitz acknowledged in 1999 that these issues are crucial to address if
global development has to bring any meaning to livelihoods of
millions in the developing world which rested outside the centalised
government control. Richard Norgaard, identifies a fundamental error
in the modernisation thinking which prevented us from identifying
environmental concerns.

1.7. Sustainable Development

Sustainability or sustainable environment was introduced as a part of

modern development, because living environment was threatened by
the rapid industrial and social transformation as a result of the process
of modernisation. Further, the developing countries were not achieving
their desired development objectives due to problems associated with
governance and resource management.
Economically sustainable system is a system which to produce goods
and services without being heavily indebted and not causing
environmental damage. In here environmental sustainability is to
maintain natural resources at a level where they are not threatened
with serious damage which cannot be remedied with the use of
available technology. A social sustainability is achieved through the

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operation of a free and fair government and social institutions where
equity of all is honoured.

The basic principle of sustainability is that there should be a collective

responsibility between man and his environment. Society has to
engage in scientific methods of environmental resource utilisation,
which will not damage environment, but sustain it in a condition
suitable for reuse, reclaim and reprocess. The question is how best
society can follow this principle?
The examples taken from the developed countries indicate that they
have not necessarily followed the principles of sustainability in the
process of development in their programmes of development. Between
1964 and 1974, their were two massive droughts in the areas bordering
tropical hot deserts and for the first time in recorded history monsoon
began to fail more often than before. This is the time immediately after
open air nuclear testing in the deserts of Sahara, Australia, Soviet
Union and USA. Further earlier testing was conducted in the Ocean
areas of Bikini, Kergulan and Christmass and many other Pacific and
Indian Ocean atolls ( coral reef islands) in the 1960s. Mercury
poisoning at Minamata bay in Japan (Justus, 1998) Thalidomite cases,
increases in lung cancer, high rates of heart failures began to question
the value of utilisation of modern resource utilisation methods in
developed countries.

THE MINAMATA TRAGEDY

(http://www.members.tripod.com/~Sandra_Justus/MercuryPoisoningR
eport.html)
In 1907 the Chisso Corporation built a factory in the small fishing
village of Minamata, Japan along the shore of Minamata Bay. Fish
populations began to decline in 1925, by 1950 fish began to float to
the surface, shellfish and other aquatic organisms began to perish. Cats
were the first land animals to show signs of distress, in 1952 they
began having convulsions, whirling in violent circles, slobbering,
becoming disoriented and throwing themselves into the sea. By 1953
dogs, pigs, birds and other animals started exhibiting the same strange
behavior. Virtually no cats to be found in Minamata, Japan as of 1958.
A little girl age five years and eleven months old; who had been very
bright suddenly showed signs of brain damage, and started having the
same symptoms as the Minamata cats in 1956; this is the first
documented case of human mercury contamination. Soon after her
diagnosis, many more children began to demonstrate symptoms of the
strange disease; babies were born with it and eventually adults started
to show the same symptoms.
The Chisso Corporation was finally linked as the source of the disease
because of their dumping of mercury into Minamata Bay and its
contributory waters. Chisso began dumping mercury into the waters

10
beginning in the 1930's and continued to dump through out most of the
1960's. Chisso denied all allegations for as long as they possibly could.
The poisoning became known as Minamata Disease, and its victims
rallied together and took the Chisso Corporation to court to sue for
damages. It wasn't until March 20, 1973 that the victims triumphed
and won their case. As of 1992 the number of people officially
diagnosed as having Minamata disease totaled 2,252 people; 1,043
were dead and another 12,127 people were waiting to be tested. As
recently as March of 1997, the number of people still waiting to be
tested was 1,968.
Efforts were made to restore the bay; in 1974 a three-mile long net was
placed around the bay to contain contaminated fish. After 53 years of
being considered deadly waters, in 1998 the bay was declared safe
again. Chisso finally took responsibility and have made their final
payments.

Thalidomite cases
Thalidomide is a drug that was sold during the late 1950s and 1960s as
a sleeping aid and to pregnant women as an antiemetic to combat
morning sickness and other symptoms.
It was later (1960–61) found to be teratogenic in fetal development,
most visibly as a cause of amelia or phocomelia, especially if taken
during the first 25 to 50 days of pregnancy. Around 15,000 children
were affected by thalidomide, of whom about 12,000 in 46 countries
were born with birth defects, with only 8,000 of them surviving past
the first year of life. Most of these survivors are still alive, nearly all
with disabilities caused by the drug
http://www.tartan-terror.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php
Atmospheric and underground nuclear tests
From 1945 to 1963 the U.S.A. conducted an extensive campaign of
atmospheric nuclear tests, grouped into roughly 20 test "series." After
1963 when the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed testing for the
U.S., Soviet Union, and Great Britain moved underground. France
continued atmospheric testing until 1974 and China did so until 1980.

http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/nudb/datab22.asp

Ozone hole
The first global agreement to restrict CFCs came with the signing of
the Montreal Protocol in 1987 ultimately aiming to reduce them by
half by the year 2000. Two revisions of this agreement have been
made in the light of advances in scientific understanding, the latest
being in 1992. Agreement has been reached on the control of industrial
production of many halocarbons until the year 2030. The main CFCs

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will not be produced by any of the signatories after the end of 1995,
except for a limited amount for essential uses, such as for medical
sprays.
The countries of the European Community have adopted even stricter
measures than are required under the Montreal Protocol agreements.
Recognising their responsibility to the global environment they have
agreed to halt production of the main CFCs from the beginning of
1995. Tighter deadlines for use of the other ozone-depleting
compounds are also being adopted.
It was anticipated that these limitations would lead to a recovery of the
ozone layer within 50 years of 2000; the World Meteorological
Organisation estimated 2045 (WMO reports #25, #37), but recent
investigations suggest the problem is perhaps on a much larger scale
than anticipated.
http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/tour/part1.html

Drought 1964/1974
Severe Desertification caused by Man

The impact of desertification and its causes in north Kordofan were

described in several reports during the 1970's following the 1964-74
Sahelian drought. For example:

"It is evident that the desert southern boundary has shifted south by an
average of about 90-100 km in the last 17 years...in several areas,
particularly in northern Kordofan in the Hamrat El Wuz and Kheiran
areas, sand encroachment has moved rapidly ahead of the southern
boundary of the desert and loose sand is accumulating over the
formerly consolidated sandy (and locally clay) soils...Shallow sand
encroachment appears to have killed nearly all vegetation except the
trees Acacia tortilis and Balanites aegyptica and a small number of
dune adapted shrubs as far south as 15 N in the Hamrat El Wuz area.
Immediately south of this area mobile dunes are moving southwards
with the prevailing wind and are becoming an increasingly serious
threat to the agricultural land and several villages in the Bashiri and
Bara areas of the Kheiran region. The sand dunes are being augmented
by the very large area of drifting sand further north near Hamrat El
Wuz."). This is a commonly accepted description of desertification in
Kordofan reproduced e.g. by Refs. 7-9. It was even stated by Ref. 10
that: "Surveys have shown that the desert had advanced 90-100 km
within a 17 years period and is currently advancing at the rate of 5 to 6
km per year".
http://www.ciesin.org/docs/002-178/002-178.html

In the 1980s the observed changes in the Ozone layer and the
occurrence of El Ninio was connected to global warming. The global

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warming was discovered to be an important event in climatic change
as ozone holes were discovered in Antarctica in the 1990s. By 1995
the relationship between global climatic change and local weather
systems were fully understood and serious warnings were issued on
increased intensity of thunderstorms and cyclones, increased
stagnation of depressional rain and change of direction of major rain
bearing winds like, South West Monsoon, North East Monsoon and
Sub Polar Westerlies.
However the developed industrial nations have not been able to
substantially reduce their emissions and chemical releases and they
have not signed most of the documents prepared by international
conferences on environment and environment protection.

Prospects for South West Monsoon 2003 : What the IMD statement
does not tell us

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in its 16 April forecast

of the 2003 South West (SW) monsoon has sent out somewhat
confusing signals. It says that “for the country as a whole (the SW
monsoon) is likely to be 96 per cent of the Long Period Average
(LPA) with a model error of + 5 per cent.” It further states that there is
“21 per cent probability of drought (rainfall less than 90 per cent of
LPA) and 39 per cent probability of below normal rainfall (90 to 97
per cent of LPA)”. Which amounts to saying that there is 60 per cent
probability of “drought” or “below normal” rainfall.

Remember however that the IMD has made major changes in

definition, starting 2003. Previously, rainfall of 91 per cent and above
of LPA was considered “normal”. Thus the “normal” SW monsoon in
1999, 2000 and 2001 brought precipitation of 96, 92 and 92 per cent of
LPA respectively. And kharif 2001 harvest was a record. By the new
definition however, all of these three years would have to be re-
classified as “below normal”. We also know that in previous years a
“normal” (by the earlier standards) monsoon did not preclude select
regions from receiving rainfall that was much below average. When
the regions affected are relatively arid and rain-dependant, such as
Rajasthan and Gujarat, drought-like conditions develop there,
notwithstanding good rains in the rest of the country.

The only conclusion that one can reasonably draw from IMD‟s nimble
foot-stepping, is that in the worse case (if not the worst case), average
precipitation during SW monsoon 2003 would be
96–5=91 per cent of LPA. That would have been just “normal” by
yesteryear‟s standard, indicating that some regions may get scarce
rains, although on the whole things are satisfactory. If the negative
variation is geographically skewed, and the skew is loaded against the

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more arid parts of the country, unrelieved drought conditions in
Rajasthan, Gujarat and other arid regions would be further
compounded.

Sub-polar westerlies

The most pronounced anomalies have occurred since the winter of

1989 (Hurrell 1995a; Walsh et al. 1996; Thompson and Wallace 1998;
Watanabe and Nitta 1999) when record positive values of an index of
the NAO have been recorded. Moreover, the trend in the NAO
accounts for several remarkable changes recently in the climate and
weather over the middle and high latitudes of the Northern
Hemisphere, as well as in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Among
these changes are:

Strengthened subpolar westerlies from the surface to the lower

stratosphere (Thompson et al. 1999).

Milder winters in Europe downstream across Asia juxtaposed against

more severe winters over eastern Canada and the northwest Atlantic
(Hurrell 1995a; Wallace et al. 1995; Hurrell 1996; Shabbar et al. 1997;
Thompson and Wallace 1998).

Pronounced regional changes in precipitation patterns (Hurrell 1995a;

Hurrell and van Loon 1997; Dai et al. 1997) resulting in the advance
of some northern European glaciers (Hagen 1995; Sigurdsson and
Jonsson 1995) and the retreat of Alpine glaciers (Frank 1997).

Changes in sea-ice cover in both the Labrador and Greenland Seas as

well as over the Arctic (Chapman and Walsh 1993; Maslanik et
al.1996; Cavalieri et al. 1997; Parkinson et al. 1998; McPhee et al.
1998; Deser et al. 1999).

Pronounced decreases in mean sea level pressure (SLP) over the

Arctic (Walsh et al. 1996). _ Changes in the physical properties of
Arctic sea water (Sy et al. 1997; Morison et al. 1998; McPhee et al.
1998; Dickson 1999; Dickson et al. 1999a,b).

Changes in the intensity of convection in the Labrador and the

Greenland-Iceland Seas (Dickson et al. 1996; Houghton 1996) which
in turn influence the strength and character of the Atlantic meridional
overturning circulation. _

14
 Stratospheric cooling over the polar cap (Randel and Wu 1999), and
total column ozone losses poleward of 40oN (Randel and Wu 1999;
Thompson et al. 1999).

Changes in storm activity and the shifts in the Atlantic storm track
(Hurrell 1995b), changes in within season variability such as blocking
(Nakamura 1996).

Trend in North Atlantic surface wave heights (Kushnir et al. 1997). _

Changes in the production of zooplankton and the distribution of fish

(e.g., Fromentin and Planque 1996).

Changes in the length of the growing season over Europe (Post and
Stenseth 1999), and changes in the population dynamical processes of
several terrestrial species (Post et al. 1999; Stenseth et al. 1999).

All these appear to be strongly related to the recent trend in the NAO.

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/NAO/

The new development paradigm forwarded by the developed countries

have demonstrated that though they have problems of reducing
pollution, they are willing to invest in pollution reduction in the areas
where new development is taking place. They have initiated trade-off
of pollution with developing countries. These trade-offs have led to
providing aid and loan facilities to developing world to limit the use of
their rain forest, Savanna grassland, wetlands and other biotic
resources.

This is a fruitful arrangement because of the four following reasons

among many others
1. Developing countries have not shown any ability to live
without the support of the developed ( case of disaster, solving
conflict, poverty alleviation all have to be supported by
developed – for example Sri Lanka receives heavy social
support from developed countries in relation to disaster,
solving conflict and poverty alleviation and there is evidence
that assistance received is not utilised properly).
2. Developed countries have to produce more and more to supply
its ever increasing consumption due to increasing wealth in
them. The argument is that the developed world has to
accumulate wealth not only for the service of their own

15
 countries, but for the provision of facilities to the developing
poor countries in case of emergencies and development
planning. Developed countries have to support the developing
in their various types of emergencies and therefore developed
have to gather financial resources and make investments in the
developing countries to make their poor live without being
subjected to famine.
3. Developing countries have no operational freedom for
majority of its citizens due to institutional corruption and
conflict. In here the developed countries have to provide
developing countries with financial and material support to
maintain operational freedom ( establishment of human rights
and provision of refugee positions).
There is an another view on the effect of policies of the developed
world on the activities of the developing world based on
dependency theory, which states that the developed world
organisation forces developing countries to depend on developed.
Frank (1966) presents the best overview of this group of theories,
which studies the overall exploitation of the satellite states by the
central powerful industrial states. His view was that the
industrialised countries have become rich through the exploitation
of the poor countries. The dependency school formulated the
underdevelopment theory through the writings of many radical
researchers, which contained the elements of Marxist language,
mode of analysis and ideological and theoretical projects (Aina,
1993). This wing was headed by Andre Gunder Frank, Samir
Amin, Walter Rodney and a host of others, and which has been
called the underdevelopment theory, which is Neo-Marxist in
formation. (Aina, 1993).
This dependency is further increased by the facility available in
the financial institutions of the developed world to deposit
finances from undisclosed sources of the developing world, which
allows the corrupt of the developing world. This matter relates
heavily to illegal exploitation of valuable resources in the
developing world. Oil in Nigeria, Gems in Sri Lanka, Sex Trade in
many south Asian countries, illegal Arms Trade, Money
Laundering, Drug Trafficking have taken hold primarily due to
ability of the people involved in these activities to invest through
the financial institutions in the western developed world. Most of
these activities are also supported by a few powerful elements of
the developed world. The investigations conducted by Federal
Bureau of Investigation (USA) and Scotland Yard (UK) indicate
these underground connections continue through the use of relaxed
human rights conditions in the developed world.
All these activities threaten sustainability in all the areas of the
globe. Then a question can be put forward for analysis?

16
Is there a true sustainability in human development? Can humans
develop without damaging environment? Can environmental
protection bring stability to environment?
The answer to three above questions is NO.
Why?
The concept of environmental change provide the answer, which is
that the ever changing environment will change on the changes
created by
Geological change –continuous and cannot be controlled (
Seneviratne, 2006a)
Climatic change- continuous and cannot be changed ( Seneviratne,
2006a)
Human development change – continuous, but can be controlled to
maintain sustainability ( countries like Switzerland, Norway,
Singapore and Malaysia have successfully mixed human
development change and sustainable development of environment)
Natural disaster – continuous, but can be controlled to maintain
sustainability (developed world)
Human disaster - continuous, but can be controlled to maintain
sustainability (developed world)
Testing of new materials and processes - continuous, but can be
controlled to maintain sustainability (beginning)
Then how to reach a stage of sustainability which will not damage
environment unduly and limit progress?
This path is decided by the following factors
Level of available technology – level of available technology
decides the ability to learn, experiment and control environment
keeping sustainable level of resource exploitation. For example in
the ancient kingdom of Sri Lanka there was a system of
environmental management which was sufficient enough to
maintain the civilisation in a time of massive foreign invasion and
a drought of less than 3 years. This is because the area was
managed well by a well constructed environmental management
plan, which was supported by strict legislation. The sustainability
level of that civilisation was decided on its technological capacity
to face a foreign invasion and drought. Today, the sustainable
level of the present civilisation in North central Province is
decided on the supply of trans basin water transfer due to change
of environment and effect of drought is felt more due to poor
water management system. Further, continuing destruction of
forests and shrub land has forced the area to be subjected to loss of
water resources, lowering of water levels, loss of biodiversity and
wev (reservoir) destruction.

Basic needs

17
Human needs are immensely important to the establishment of
sustainable development because it is the need which decides the
type and amount of resources required for development. Humans
require products and services for their various needs and these are
supplied through the market. Market situations are decided by
supply and demand factors and governed by the system of trading
conducted in an economic environment. There is a movement to
request for consumption control in the developing countries which
indicate that sustainable development is threatened not only by
poverty in the developing world but also by over consumption in
the developed world.

18
SYDNEY, Australia -- A meeting in Sydney of six Asia-Pacific
nations to address climate change issues has concluded with
member countries seeking to balance continued economic growth
with the need to cut greenhouse emissions.The inaugural two-day
meeting of the the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development
and Climate issued a communique Thursday outlining its
strategies.This included a declaration stressing the importance of
fossil fuels -- oil, gas and coal --and their continued use through
the 21st century.

"Coal and gas are and will remain critical fuels for all six partner
economies," the communique said. Reductions in greenhouse
gases must be achieved without hindering economic growth, it
said. However, the summit also concluded renewable energy and
nuclear power would be an increasing share of global energy
supplies.

The meeting of ministers and business leaders from the United

States, Australia, Japan, China, India and South Korea, agreed to
promote the use of proven and emerging clean-energy
technologies.

Under the plan, eight task forces will identify research and
innovation in key industries and develop action plans.Also
Thursday, the United States said it would contribute $52 million
towards the administration of the new climate grouping.James
Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on
Environmental Quality, told Australian Associated Press that U.S.
President George W. Bush would seek $52 million in
Washington's 2007 budget to manage the partnership's work.
Earlier, Australian Prime Minister John Howard earmarked Aust.
$100 million ($75 million) over five years for funding the
development of clean energy technologies.This included Aust. $25
million specifically for renewable energy projects.Environment
group Greenpeace attacked the pledges Thursday, describing them
as inadequate.

1.8 Developed world and environmental management

Developed world has managed to achieve the required level of

economic stability and growth ustilising modernisation, because
they have managed to establish an efficient trade and banking link
to the globalised world. In addition they have become powerful
states where disturbing social and political ideologies are
controlled and allow the supremacy of rule of law to operate. Then
the ills of the developing world can be linked to corrupt social and
19
 political operations where principles of environmental
management are not followed and adhered.

Chapter 2

Modelling in Environmental Management

Modelling in environmental management is attempted here within the

domain of new perspective of environmental management where its
relevance to economic development is considered paramount.
Meaningful economic development is the aim of all human processes
and this study is aimed at discussing the process in the developing
world. Developing world is characterised by rapidly increasing
population, increasing indebtness, conflict and poverty. The
development scientists believe that the programme of sustainable
development is the most probabilistic way of achieving the required
level of environmental management in the developing world. This is
because the poor countries have become heavily dependent on their
natural resource base as they have no free access to industrial
production due to low technological status and have to depend on the
developed world for investments and aid. Further, these countries
have already being ravaged by many natural disasters originating from
global warming and many conflicts and wars resulting from the

20
extreme ideologies related to ethnicity and religion. The modelling
presented in this book is based on scientific concepts of environmental
management and economic development and they may be in constant
conflict with the reader‟s environment in a developing world.

The basic principles in Modelling

The cost of natural resource degradation, the cause of natural resource

degradation, and policy interventions are the major variables used in
the construction of modelling. Marginal opportunity cost of resource
depletion and the effects of discount rates, irreversible effects and
future generations are also utilised in the model construction.

What is a model

A model is a description of a system, theory, or phenomenon that

indicate its known or inferred properties, which can be used for further
study of its characteristics. Earth is composed of its matter in from of
gases, fluid and solids. Atmosphere is composed of a gaseous
envelope. The surface is mainly a product of solids, where about 70
percent of it is covered in a fluid. In this environment many life forms
appear and these life forms utilise the gaseous, fluid and solid
environment for their existence. In the struggle for existence life forms
and matter are in constant struggle. Environmental management is the
science of finding the best possible way to make a non-damaging
interface between natural entities and human forms of life. Society is a
composition of people with many different expectations and
requirements and environment must be used for the benefit of people
without damaging it.

Economic value of environment

Modelling in environmental management begins with the introduction

of economic value to environment. This is because the resources of the
earth have reached a critical level and users have to aim at reaching an
agreement on what can people do in the environment at what cost to
the environment? It is becoming increasingly difficult to live without
alteration to natural systems of air, water and land have acquired their
own value in environment. Then we have to decide the level of
environmental quality, which is acceptable on the basis of risks
involved and attempt to adjust our market behaviour to that quality
level. This form of approach will sustain our livelihoods and help us
to develop as a society.

21
Economics present the concept of market place. Market place is
created by the behaviour of consumers and firms on the basis of their
requirements from environmental resources, both natural and human.
Consumers need products to satisfy their life requirements and firms
produce it and sell it to the consumer. In the construction of products
there is a system of production, which require raw materials, energy
and technology. Acquiring the raw materials, energy and technology is
involved in the utilisation of environmental resources. In the utilisation
of resources resource depletion and pollution occur. Therefore the
basic process of economic activity creates a status where
environmental problems are born.

For example the requirement for rice in Sri Lanka increases with the
rise in its population. Rising population demands more and more rice
to be supplied to the market. The farmers have to produce more and
more rice to supply the demand of the market place and use various
types of chemical fertilizers, weed killers and insecticides. The use of
these chemical products affect environment and some of the residue
from the use of chemicals remain in the land, water and air systems of
the environment and pollute the environment.

The basic model of Economic activity – the circular flow model

This is a basic model which study the real and monetary flows of
economic activity through the factor market and the output market.

Figure 2.1 – Circular Flow Model

Output market
Demand for goods and Supply of goo
services
Expenditures Revenues

Households F
Income Costs
Supply of Factor market Demand for
resources

In this model real flow or non-monetary flow runs in a counter-

clockwise direction between the two markets sectors of households
(consumers) and firms (producers of products required by households).
Households supply resources or factors of production (raw materials,

22
labour, knowledge, investment finance) to the factor market. The firms
demand these factors from the factor market. The products and
commodities are supplied to the out put market (sales units) by the
firms and the out put market supplies the products to the households.

The money flow is operated in the clockwise direction. When

households supply resources or factors of production to the factor
market, the factor market pays the household for those services and the
household receives an income. The cost of this payment comes from
the firms through the payment by firms to acquire goods and services
from the factor market. Then households require the goods produced
by firms and they buy it from the output market by incurring
expenditure. This expenditure by the households is returned to firms as
revenue.

The volume of flow in this model is affected by factors like population

increase, technological discoveries, skill development and rise in
investment capacity. The environmental hazards like drought, flood,
earthquake and landslides can temporarily reduce the flow. Increase in
population and technological development will increase the amount of
goods required and the types of products manufactured. For example
the increase in population will extend the area cultivated and
agricultural raw materials produced. In turn this increase of
agricultural raw materials will require additional processing,
packaging and distribution systems. If the increased population has
found new mineral raw material then production of industrial products
will increase. If we take one commodity like petroleum, the increased
use of petroleum resulting from the increase of motor vehicles has
resulted in massive air pollution. Then, if left uncontrolled the flow in
this model will increase until the environment is faced with serious
degradation and then the flow will begin to reduce as hazards bring
damage to production capacity of the firms or buying capacity of the
households. For example the Tsunami disaster led to a complete
destruction of production and trade worth of about 30 to 40 billion
rupees in the regions affected in Sri Lanka. The recovery of the flow
to the standard before the Tsunami may take about 10 to 20 year
period. The effect of carbon monoxide pollution from vehicle
exhausts in Sri Lanka has resulted in a rapid increase of respiratory
ailments in Sri Lanka over the last 10 to 15 years.

Need for a new model

The failure of the circular flow model led to the formation of amore
applicable model to explain economic activity in a more meaningful
way. Economics and value of environment is in cooperated into this

23
new model. In this model the connection between natural resources
and economics are more intensively examined.

The material balance model

This model has an added sector call nature in addition to four major
sectors in the circular flow model. Nature in this model is studied
within the realm of natural resource economics. The flow of materials
from nature to households and flow of residuals from households and
firms to nature is taken into consideration within this model. In this
analysis, the resources are identified as renewable natural resources
and non-renewable natural resources.

This renewable and non-renewable classification of resources are not a

clear cut division of resources as some of the renewable resources
sometimes take a very long period of time to renew themselves, which
is felt as they are almost non-renewable. For example the tree
varieties, which take very long periods to mature, like Palu and Weera
is not renewable within a life time of a planning period or a human
being. Some parts of the non-renewable resources can be reutilised
with the development of new technologies like use of melted down old
cars to make new cars.

This applies also to residuals as some residuals are life long and others
are short-lived. Some of the residuals have an assimilative capacity
and effects not only the current living environment, but environment
of many centuries ahead. However all the residuals except for nuclear
waste is capable of recycling and directed towards reuse or
regeneration. Recycling is not fully capable of preventing the
formation of residuals and finally all products add some form of
residual to nature.

The time scale of the material balance model is not unlimited and
based on the concept of ever changing knowledge and technological
capacity. This model believes that man is capable of finding some
answers to many problems, which will enable him to survive longer
than many people think.

Scientific environment of the model is based on first and second laws

of thermodynamics.
1. first law – matter and energy can neither be created nor
destroyed
2. second law – capacity to convert matter and energy in nature
is not boundless

24
The first law looks supreme, but in reality once humans have used an
environmental resource it will produce waste. This waste can be
recycled but the product originating from recycling will also produce
waste. Waste is always produced and it can be completely recycled
only through bacterial decomposition, but the process of using bacteria
in complete recycling is only at its juvenile stages. Therefore for
many years to come the production of recycled or reusable goods is
only a temporary solution to waste.

Example: plastics are normally not easy to recycle and remain as waste
in the environment for thousands of years, but the production of bio-
degradable plastics are expected to reduce the amount of waste.
However the time required to convert the total world plastics
production into bio-degradable plastics cannot be achieved in the near
future. Then the plastics we have used from the 1980s to may be to
2020 will remain in the environment as waste, making it an everlasting
problem.

The capacity to convert matter and energy in nature is not boundless

with special reference to number of consumers. The rapid increase in
the population will continue and as estimates show the world
population will overrun its resource capacity by 2030. however, the
unbalanced resource distribution has already constructed resource
imbalances in the area known as developing world, where a part of the
population is always exposed to hazards and live in poverty.

Example: There is enough land in Sri Lanka to construct housing in

hazard free or low hazard probability areas. However, lack of
scientific settlement planning and private sector real estate bargaining
process has pushed about 10 to 12 percent of the poorest of the
population into marginal land, where many forms of natural and
societal hazards are present.

Then where is the answer?

Answer is in environmental management.

The principles of modern management system indicate that decision

making, organising, staffing, planning, controlling, communicating
and directing are the seven major functions used to describe the job of
management. All these functions are closely interrelated , however it is
useful to treat each as a separate process for the purpose of clarity.

In the background of modern management emphasis is always given to

the development of management thought and ethical and
environmental foundation of management. Functions in the

25
management process involves decision making. Organising and
staffing, planning and strategic management, leadership,
communicating and controlling and managing information.

Modern environmental management as we have discussed earlier is an

integrated science, which has utlised the concepts of change and
knowledge of management. Then the environmental management is
the optimum long term management of the elements and factors of
environment. This type of management is not new as all the ancient
and medieval civilisations have had a system of environmental
management to construct their habitats.

For example the ancient civilisation of Sri Lanka had an

environmental management supported by high level of technology in
resource exploitation and conservation. There is evidence that this
management system of the ancient civilisation was based upon an
advanced system of human resource management, which provided the
best craftsmanship and governance to the civilisation.

When there was a scarcity of local human resources the rulers were
not hesitant to import human resources from other neighbouring
civilisations. For example in the construction of statues and creating
designs the local craftsmen were either trained in traditions of the time
or worked with foreign craftsmen to construct works of art. Samadhi
statue, Sigiri frescoes and many types of temple paintings indicate the
influence of neighbouring civilisations. The success and the long
lasting value of these products indicate that the leaders of the ancient
civilisation were capable of evolving and operating a system of
management to run an efficient and profitable society. It confirms that
the „ universal rule of management has no time related limit‟ and the
failure is a result of not adhereing to the principles of management.

Value of Samadhi Statue

Historical value – unlimited

Aesthetic value - unlimited
Economic value – cannot be valued, but by counting the number of
visitors to the site yearly and estimating that about 1/50 th of their
expenses of coming to Anuradhapura is spent on visiting the Samadhi
Statue we can arrive at following figures:

Number of visitors to the Samadhi Statue and their financial

contribution to the general income of the nation
Table 2.1 Environmental value of Samadhi statue

26
Number Expenditure Total Total Maintenance Profit or
of of each expenditure addition to cost (year) contribution
visitors visitor on economy the to the
(mean to arrive at economy national
value the site (year) economy
for a (estimated) (year)
year)
300,000 5.00 rupees Rs.
for local 1,500,000.00 Rs. Rs. Rs.
tourist Rs. 9,000,000.00 2,000,000.00 7,000,000.00
25.00 7,500,000.00
rupees for
international
tourist

Information in the above table is not easy to explain with the existing
system of inefficient environmental management in Sri Lanka as
present day financial management is not geared towards proper
accounting. For example at present the income generated from the
tourism in Anuradhapura is not properly collected, invested and
utilised for further development of the area. Therefore the present
status do not correspond with the words optimum, long term, elements
and factors have to be defined correctly if we are to achieve an
acceptable level of management or more commonly termed
sustainable environmental management.

Optimum – Optimum within environmental management refers to the

state of affairs where the resources are used within carefully planned
limits with reference to the capacity of available resources. Therefore
„optimum‟, has a changing value from one place to another depending
on the economic and technological capacity of the unit of State. For
example, the regional modifications to the scenic beauty of
Switzerland is possible and it has enhanced the level of beauty and
increased the economic capacity of the region through the increase of
income from tourism, with the use of electric railway and development
of local craft industries. Parallel to these activities forest harvesting,
and preservation of springs, stabilisation of ice sheets and reduction of
actual human pressure of walking on ground along the mountain paths
by the provision of mountain trams are included into this plan.
Between 1990 and 2003 many more areas have been opened as tourist
friendly areas in Switzerland and profits from tourism has risen
sharply.

Sri Lanka has a great potential for all types of tourism, but the country
has not produced a comprehensive scientific plan of utilisation of

27
resources, in route planning, transport facilities, communication
facilities, accommodation facilities etc. This is a result of lack of
national plan which indicate the optimum and maximum capabilities
of environment in a given place. Most of the modern equipment is
available and trained scientific people are available, but the tourist
industry in Sri Lanka is based on the notion that it does not require a
sound scientific base to develop. This has resulted in over expenditure
and wastage of resources and the optimum utilisation is hindered.

For example the area in and around Horton Plains and World‟ End is a
resource with a great potential for tourism. However the slow grinding
walk on the land of prime value has begun to destroy its value as a
Strict nature Reserve. The rate of erosion of the foot path is about 2
millimeters a year since 1990 (field measurements were conducted by
the author in three selected sample sites) the foot paths have already
removed about 20 million cubic meters of soil from the foot paths
since 1990. About 14 percent of the total foot path length has already
become footpath gullies.

Long-term can be defined in many ways but with reference to

environment the average time limit of long term for environment is 25
to 50 years. This is the time span required for an adequate forest
growth or improvement of water storage. The construction of roads,
drains and other infrastructure are also linked to time spans of this
magnitude. The countries where environmental management is at an
advance level, the forest and water resource planning are linked to
similar time limits.

It is clear now that in our ancient civilisation long term plans were in
force in relation to water and forestry. Wev construction was either
postponed or delayed and repair and strengthening of existing systems
were evident in some periods while aggressive Wev building was
pursued in other periods. 8,9 and 10 centuries were the climax of the
Anuradhapura civilisation, but the level of construction of irrigation
structures was low in comparison to its early period. This came as an
understanding of the pressure on water sources and until the steady
shift towards Polonnaruwa began there were no new constructions.

Further it is clear that there was a complete understanding on the

resource strength and optimum population in this civilisation. The
population was trained and sometime controlled through advice or law
to follow the conditions required for optimum use. Investigating deep
into the selective harvesting of trees during the period of ancient
civilisation it is clear that ultra modern concept of forest harvesting
was employed by the authorities of the kingdom. This is a long term

28
plan for forest maintenance and it helped to provide the large
quantities of timber required in the development.

The following abstracts found and provided by Dr. A. Lagamuwa,

Head of Department, Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
indicate the management system of the ancient kingdom of Rajarata.

Total environment: with reference to the environment in and around

the settlement

“In every settlement it is prohibited to cut timber, kill animals, erect

new construction and pollute water within a circumference of 60 feet.
It is designated as an intermediate zone between the settlement and
forest”

The value of above imposition was to keep a stable organic

environment with a balance of living beings (which is not kept today).
This was possible as the settlement of the kingdom was designed and
structured in association with the environment. Similar environmental
laws are in force in the highly developed western world and in
countries like Malaysia and Singapore where all human acts including
planning of settlement is also conducted according to strict
environmental requirements.

“ in the 3rd century BC, it was prohibited to slaughter animals within a

circumference of 25 miles of Anuradhapura city ”

“In 12 th century AD, it was prohibited to slaughter animals, fishing

and cut timber within a circumference of 35 kilometers of
Polonnaruwa city ”

the above two edicts were aimed at preventing water pollution, spread
of disease and securing a religious environment.

The following of above edicts were possible because there was an

advanced level of environmental planning in the system of
governance.

The breaking of environmental law and edicts demanded heavy

punishment. The illegal felling of trees were punished by hard labour
related to tank building and restoration. These actions were punishable
by a fine or manual work.
“ illegal cutting of trees were punished by a fine or cutting and
repairing an area equal to about 48 cubic meters of weva”. Mihinthale
Pillar Inscription, King Mihindu IV.

29
“ the palm, coconut, tamrind and Mee trees on Mihinthala hill should
not be cut or removed. The persons including the royal servants who
break this law should be punished by a fine and the income collected
should be given to the temple” Mihinthala Pillar Inscription, King
Sena II, AD 853-887.

The technology of water management was the core of the success of

the kingdom.

“ The sluice of Tissa weva should be closed nine days after harvest in
the fields of Isurumuniya and allow it to fill again. Then the remaining
water can be released first to the temple and surrounding area and any
excess water should be released to Malwathu Ela. In addtion the land
belonging to the temple should not be taken over by anyone.”
Wessagiriya Inscription, Mihindu IV, 956-973.

“ 2 Aka (an older currency) was fined for flooding of paddy fields
(over use of water), before ploughing (there was a set standard for
ploughing). If ploughing was not done correctly the person at fault
was fined with one Kalang of gold. If the ploughing was not done as
prescribed the person at fault was fined 5 kalangs of gold.”

( the detailed activities, edicts and laws are given in Appendix 1 in

Sinhala)

Defining and understanding of the elements and factors of the

environment is essential to the survival of humans. The mistakes made
in these two areas have led to the destruction of civilisations in the
past. Mistakes originated from two major areas: over exploitation and
war.

Overexploitation resulted from the inability to reach a balance between

the increase in population and amount of resources in a given
environment. For example detailed investigation into the water
resources and storage in the North central province reveals that any
population over 6 million will have to be supported from inter-basin
water transfer. The construction of long distance canals in the middle
and latter part of the ancient civilisation indicate that there was a
pressure on water requirement of the civilisation. Further expansion of
habitat towards the forest boundary in the latter part of the civilisation
led to loss of springs and wetlands, which may have resulted in loss of
environmental balance in the whole system.

30
Elements and factors

Elements and factors of the environment supply the matter and

construct processes of the environment. Elements range from laws of
thermodynamics to human resource management. Processes vary from
a gully in the farmland to a Mega Tsunami. Therefore among this wide
array of elements and factors many can be set as controlled variables
by locating your environment in a given set of optimum levels of
operations. Then some can argue that this new concept of
environmental management is closer to a management in a business
organisation. Though it appears that the environment cannot be
managed as a business, a closer look at the ancient and modern
civilisations it becomes clear that where there is a proper
environmental management system constructed to obtain optimum
results, there was steady development of the human society.

Then we can summarise the process of environmental management

five major principles as given below. However it should be noted that
the following presentation is used only as a guide and specially
applicable to societies where there is no proper environmental
management in practise. It should be noted that these principles have
to continually upgraded with refernce to environmental change and
change of environment in a given or selected environment.

Environmental management Principle 1 – commitment and policy – an

organisation should construct its environment policy and make sure
that it is committed to its implementation

Key areas- leaders should adhere to policy/ audit present performance/

set overall sense of direction

Principle 2 – planning - An organisation should formulate a plan to

fulfill its environmental policy

Key areas- Identifying environmental issues and evaluating their

impact on the environment/ desired environmental outcomes/
Developing environmental management programs for all staff to
implement

31
Principle 3 – implementation – organisation need to develop the
capabilities and support to achive its goals

Key areas- resources (human, physical and financial)/

Accountability/responsibility

Principle 4 - measurement and evaluation

Key areas - system for measuring and monitoring ongoing

performance/ records are maintained/ Undertake EMS audits

Principle 5 - review and improvement

An organisation should review and continually improve its EMS/

review.

Key areas - Ensure continual improvement.

Sustainabiltiy

Sustainability means the ability to use without damage or limiting

damage to sustain a given resource, natural and societal. This is the
core concept of development in the study and research in
environmental change and change of environment. Further is has
become the basis of democratisation of the developing world and all
aid programmes originating from the developed world is aimed
towards sustainability.

Principles of sustainability as applied to environmental management

Sustainable development is a system of development and a scientific

technique to use environment without creating accountable damage.
Sustainability is based on a given set of moral standards of the society
in which it operates and market forces are not the final controllers of
development.

The failure of sustainability

32
However the success so far has been very limited in the developing
countries as the principles of sustainability is difficult to practise due
to socio-political corruption present in them. This type of corruption
originate from lack of application of morality and associated rule of
law in a given society. This is because the environment is total and it
cannot be operated successfully when even one of its parts is non-
operational.

Modelling the marketing process

Environment is a product and a service. Origin of all the products used

by man is in the environment. From water, soil, mineral to artificial
products are a part of the environment around us. For example water
originates from rain and the distilled water used in car batteries are a
product of the laboratory process to manufacture a special type of
water. Petroleum is a natural mineral and it s by products range from
tar to sweetners used in baking.

Then in the modelling the marketing process in the study of

environment has to go beyond the general modelling in business
management and cover all fields of production and services. However,
the principles of marketing is the primary guide in this study.

It is possible to identify 4 major marketing concepts

1. customer orientationm
2. integrated effort
3. viability
4. profitability

1. Customer orientation
A good knowledge of the consumer needs and wants is required in
all marketing action, product and service. Product and service
planning and development require a deeper understanding of the
consumer needs and wants. In here the general marketing concept
should include the damaging effect of customer needs and wants
in the production of goods and services, which have to be
controlled through advice and legal support.

Use of plastics is easy and cheap, but the waste problem created by
polythene waste has resulted in serious environmental pollution. A
survey conducted and a publication made on polythene indicates that it
is lack of proper waste collection system, which leads to this situation
in our urban areas. A large bureaucracy and political interference is the
major cause of inefficiency in the governance of our urban centres in
Sri Lanka, as they consume a larger portion of the finances collected

33
through taxation. Further existence of illegal tax collection prevents
the collection of proper taxes and loss of revenue to the local
authorities. The general corruption of the nation is estimated at about
71% as at 2006 August, which leads to all these problems. A survey
conducted in 2001 revealed that though all types of urban councils in
Sri Lanka has complained of lack of finances, an audit showed
otherwise (SIDA/Sarec).

Therefore corruption and morality plays an important part in inability

to attend to customer needs and wants than real income in a
developing nation like Sri Lanka.

For example venison meat is a delicacy every one likes to eat, but the
availability of deer is limited and unless deer is bread in large
quantities it is impossible to lift the ban on sale of deer meat. Though
breeding deer has a great future in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, religious
factors control animal breeding. This has enabled the farmers in
Thailand to have a lucrative business in producing venison in large
quantities which has helped to lift their economic status. Sometimes
the religious belief is a controlling factor in satisfying customer
demand.

Illegal felling valuable timber like ebony, satin wood and halmilla is a
constant reminder that there is a great demand for those types of
timber. However, the elite of Sri Lanka has no problem in getting the
required supply from the rapidly depleting resource. However, so far
Sri Lanka has no plan of cultivating and managing these types of
plantations on the principles used by the kings of our ancient
civilisation.

In developed countries the customer is oriented to be environment

friendly through pricing and legal support systems. For example the
rare products of environment are extremely expensive and these
products are supplied to the market through licensing. Diamonds,
gems, ivory and fur used for clothing are highly controlled though
licensing and the defaulters are punished. However, the corruption in
developing countries manages to produce and export these
commodities to an illegal market in the developed countries of the
world. This type of corruption affects the case of gem industry in Sri
Lanka and it is estimated Sri Lanka looses about 10 to 20 billion
rupees worth of income and the environmental damage caused by
unscientific mining of gems in Sri Lanka can be estimated to be about
another 5 to 6 billion rupees.

The loss of valuable timber is also connected to this corrupt practises

where, the non utilisation of modern scientific forestry has resulted in

34
forcing valuable timber like ebony, satin wood and halmilla (Berrya
cordifolia) to be endangered species. This is also applicable to
antelopes, deer and leopard in Sri Lanka.

Integrated effort

Integrating the marketing functions with those of production,

distribution and finance is essential to any organisation. The
environmental products carry their code of production and distribution.
The existing financial management systems required to be more
environment friendly in dealing with environmental products. The best
case of integrated effort and its successes and failures can be found in
the plantation industry in Sri Lanka. The best-managed plantations in
Sri Lanka are the plantations where best human resource management
practises are in practise. This type of management prevents frequent
work stoppages and production failures, in an industry where unionism
plays an important role. It is the belief of many that unionism is linked
to political arena, most of the time the union leaders search for reasons
to disrupt the sanity of plantations. As some researchers believe the
unions may be connected to many types of destabilisation programme
secretly conducted by elements of the international destabilising
agencies (Www.spur.asn.au.).
The rapid depletion of flora and fauna resources in Sri Lanka is also a
result of lack integrated effort from the organisations involved in the
development as political and elitist interference is considered to be
greater than the legality. The case of sand extraction is one of the best
examples of this lack of integration, where the nation has not
attempted to provide a scientific answer to satisfy sand requirement.
Seneviratne ( 1975), indicate the technique for identifying basic
resources of Sri Lanka on village basis, but this type of research was
not yet adhered to in Sri Lanka.

Viability

The long run survival and growth of environmental product through

understanding and loyalty of the customers is very important to all the
business organisations and it is also equally important to nations. Only
scientific management best achieves the survival of business and
national environment. The customers have to be guided through
information and legal system to support an environmentally friendly
approach if the business and nation has to progress in a sustainable
way.

Profitability
The primary goal of any business is to be profitable, but the nation has
to be welfarist in its approach to business. Marketing of produce there

35
for require more than profitability under national market organisation.
The environmental products should be green friendly and it has to be
promoted all the time and producers who are not green friendly have
to be directed to be so within the stipulated time. As non-profit
organisations the state has to be extremely careful in financial
management. As given in inscriptions financial management was
maintained at a supreme level in the ancient kingdom of Sri Lanka,
with the use of strict regulations and edicts given in inscriptions.

“ Collect proper taxes from timber, but should not over tax”,
Kondawattawan Pillar Inscription, King Dappula, 924 –935 AD.

“ People who have killed water buffalo, cattle and goats should be
killed. If these were stolen the thieves should be caught, marked with
hot iron in their arm pit and banished from the area. If the thieves do
not surrender they should be controlled with force using weapons.
Who will not follow the king‟s order should forced to stand on heated
foot wear‟ Wewelketiya Inscription, King Mihindu, IV, 956 -972.

Solutions to environmental problems

Economic solutions
At present, economic solutions to environmental problems have to be
considered within the space of sustainability and globalisation as these
two economic systems control the utilisation and exploitation of
environmental resources. Investigations into the way in which the
solutions can be provided require a detailed knowledge of the two
economic systems.

Globalisation
Globalisation can be defined in many ways and in the study of
environmental management, globalisation can be defined as “the
process of interdependence, integration and interaction between
economic and social systems, which affect the methodology of the
utilisation of environmental resources”. Globalisation has guided to
evaluate environmental resources from a harvesting perspective of the
modern world. This is because, the old protective approach has failed
and the social systems have not found any other alternative. This is
true specially of the developing world where growth of population and
poverty exist in parallel due to non-adhenrence to scientific systems of
environmental management employed in them.
The western international monetary institutions which dictate terms to
the developing countries stress on free flow of goods and investments,
free international capital flows and diffusion of modern technology
within globalisation. Globalisation enters the environment of a country

36
through its industrial, financial, political and cultural systems and
therefore it soaks through every part of resource environment: natural
and societal.

Industrial globalisation is operated by the multinationals have both

advantages and disadvantages to the local economy. The employment
generated by garment, outsourcing and security services in Sri Lanka
is largely due to installation of new industries within the globalised
system of financial investments. However, local soap, weaving and
cool drink industry of Sri Lanka was completely destroyed by the
intrusion of multinational companies between 1970 and 1990. The
value of agriculture in the economy was reduced to the lowest level
since the civilisation began in Sri Lanka and now the service industries
dominate the national economy. Associated with this transformation
all natural resources and human resources are subjected to heavy
exploitation with destruction of ethical standards in most of the
businesses. Corruption in income tax and VAT payments has forced
the country to depend heavily on foreign loans and aid, though money
in circulation has doubled between 1990 and 2000.
The natural resources have suffered the biggest damage as the corrupt
economic system has infiltrated into forest, wild life and water
resources through illegal activities. An average of 4 incidents of
environmental destruction is reported daily in the news media.
Financial, political, informational and cultural globalisation has not
affected the resource environment much, but all these areas have been
affected by corruption in taxation and expenditure control. Therefore
the economy of Sri Lanka has become highly unstable in which all
types of environmental resources are threatened and poverty has
increased between 1990 and 2005.

Sustainability
(Sustainability was discussed earlier)

37
Chapter 3

Economic Solutions to environmental problems

Economics is the social science which studies the production,

distribution and consumption of commodities. Though economics is a
social science it has not involved with the effect of economic policy on
environment until recently. This is because the classical economy was
born in a time where resources were controlled by a privileged few or
dictators. The evolution of democratic governance led to formation of
alternative approaches brought forward the views on wealth, welfare
and ecology into economics thinking. Environmental management
utilises concepts from ecological and welfare economics to support its
studies on solutions to environmental problems. In association with
this approach environmental economics has been utilised by
environmental managers to provide solutions to environmental
problems which are difficult to solve by conventional means.
However, it should be remembered the application of these principles
are always guided by the ethical conduct of the governing authority.
Environmental economics is used today to study the solution to
environmental problems. Environmental economics is a field which
studies economic effects of local, national and global environmental
policies as environmental policies affect the economic value or activity
in the area where certain economic policies are in practise.
Within the normal development process certain externalities (extrenal
to economics) are not taken into account in pricing a product. In all the
developing countries and within the multinational companies which
operate in the developing world this type of neglect is visible. For
example unscientific sand extraction in Sri Lanka, and its effect is not
taken into account in the issuance of licences to extract sand.
However, the issuance has to be approved by the respective authrority
responsible for the enforcement of systems of extarction. Gem
depsoits which will be submerged by the constructyion of storage
reservoirs are not extracted in a scientific way in Sri lanka. However,
at the time of construction of the reservoir or during a dry period after
construction many illegal mining systems operate in and around the
resevoir.

The following calculations indicate the importance of use of

externalities
Situation 1 – prices in 1000s of rupees

Price of sand – 10
Cost of repair of environment damage or use of scientific mining – 4
Profit – 4

38
Here the balance in the environment can be achieved by – raising the
price of sand by 2 units and reducing profit by 2, which will stabilise
the situation on a long term basis. However, use of scientific mining
systems in full can reduce cost further.
Open recreation are without entry fee will lead to higher rates of
environmental degradation as given in Garrett Hardin's tragedy of
Commons. This situation is clearly visible in the developing countries
today as there is no organised system in the use of open areas for
recreation. All the river banks, tank bunds and waterfall sites are
seriously polluted with waste due to this free entry system in
operation. For example prime forest areas of Samanala Range and
Horton Plains are being destroyed rapidly due to this free access
system. Soil erosion and vegetation destruction are the two most
damaging activities which occur in thes two prime natural areas in Sri
Lanka due to overuse. These areas should be restricted to research and
students of high learning and a cable car service has to be installed if
the serious destruction to these prime wild areas is to be stopped.
Author has witnessed about 60 to 70 centimeter deep removal of soil
from the path in the lower and middle part of Samanala climb between
1960 and 2000 and drop of moistrue levels by about 30 percent
between 1990 and 2000 in Horton Plains, since the construction of a
highway beyong Pattipola. The loss of water and addition of sediments
to the reservoirs below has reached disastrous level and only in the
seasons of excessive high rainfall the reservoirs are capable of
providing expected hydro power capacity. Average annual loss of
income due to hydro-power problem is about 30 to 40 billion rupees
and about 25 percent of the loss is a result of uncontrolled entry into
these wilderness. In the developed countries (Switzerland, Norway)
where natural scenery is utilised to make a large contribution to the
economy and hydro power generation the above mentioned systems
are in operation with success.
These are called market failures in economic terminology, where there
is an inefficient economic result is obtained from a resource. The
inefficiency results in polution or reduction of the capability of the
environment to support the potential of the area. This type of thinking
has led to study the well-being of the economy and people.

Property rights, tarrifs and taxes, quotas and regulations are used in the
traditional environmental economics to provide solutions. Property
rights can be exchanged or traded to prevent environmental damage.
The payment of the damage can either come from the party which is
affected or the initiator. For example the responsibility for the damage
caused by sand extraction in Sri lanka can be born by the local
authorities, who will pay the affected as they have issued the permits
for extaraction or the people who will suffer damage can help the
contractors to carry out scientific extraction. This is possible only if

39
the transaction costs are not high and the number of aprties involved
are limited.
Tarrifs can be imposed on the goods produced by polluters to
discourage damage to environment. In here a level of acceptable
pollution has to be found through scientific inquirey as “no pollution
production is not possible and the environment has the capability of
absorbing a certain amount of pollution from each and every itme
without causing environmental damage”. Tarriffs and taxes do not
work well in the developing countries as most of the pollution
produced in these countries originate from inefficient operational
systems in agriculture, transport, industry and communications. This
inefficiency beging with the use of non-scientific methods in
development and failure in stabilising economic development. Further,
influnce of multi-nationals on the political and administartive systems
of developing countries lead to development of a nonchalent attitude
towards pollution caused by the friends of the politics and
administration. For example businesses of illegal timber, gem mining
and sand extraction which are the three most damaging environmental
problems in Sri Lanka results mainly as these activities are supported
by corrupt governance. However in a place like Singapore, or
Malaysia the value of their environmental resources have increased in
the last 10 years due to implementation of many taxes and tarriffs.

Quotas were introduced by regional and national environmental

governing systems to exchange environmental values between nations.
This has been used by the developed nations to exchange their dirty
scores to good scores of the developing countries. For example major
industrial nations pay poor developing countries to reserve forest
reserves in exchange for carbon dioxide emmissions. Developing
countries are a willing partner in this programme as they receive aid
financing through this scheme. However, developing countries have
not seriously utilised this facility to develop their forest reserves due to
corruption in their development programmes. It is clear from the
evidences obtained on the workings of this quaota system within
SARC region that the official corruption results in diverting these
payments to areas not related to forest development or conservation.

Regulastions are considered to be the old method in environmental

management as explained by new theories of environmental
economics. However the new theorists have forgotten the fact that
under modernity hevy punishment for pollution was enforced in 60s
which guided the populace of developing countries to adapt to new
realities. A visit any city in the developed world will inform the
visitor of the heavy fines for improper waste disposal, with notices
posted every few meters. Author has experienced the respect for

40
environmental legistlation in the developed world while living in them
for a period of about 7 years.

The most recent trend is to use the concept of environmental

harvesting which incooperate the concept of environmental change.
The concepts of environmental change and change of environment
both accommodate the holistic view of environment and its immense
capacity to recover through the application of scientific knowledge.
This concept further allows factors like population pressure,
technology and futuristic culture to be absorbed into providing
solutions to environmental problems. Further, this concept utilises all
aveneues available to recycle waste and reduce consumption of
energy. For example the forests in Norway utilises the concept of
harvesting and these forests produce, timber, chip wood for pulp and
fire wood, many types of berries and provide waste for compost. The
forest floor is designed and kept clean of weeds and shrubs which are
invasive or not required for the sustenance of the forest.

Timber – use high technology to grow better trees/ use satellite

technology to remove disease affected trees and treat diseases, identify
weak trees etc/ use specialised machinery to cut and remove timber
without damage to land –slop-drainage thus saving environment
reducing time and cost

Chipwood – all usable parts of the wood is chipped on location or in

selected locations/ use of chip wood for heating cabins during winter
reduce electricity demand by about 3 to 4 percent (this amount is equal
to about 10 percent of total annual electricity demand of Sri Lanka)
thus saving economic resources

Berries- berry picking is a traditional way of life during autumn in

Norway/ forest may be privately owned but you can enter with
permission and pluck any amount for consumption/ operation of
registered sales only prevents any one selling these items.

Compost- All waste is processed and use as fertiliser, which reduces

the cost of importation of chemical fertilisers and reduces the cost of
maintenance of forest

All these activities result in

1. Norway becoming one of the major timber producers in the world
2. Norway timber becoming highly competitive as production cost is
reduced
3. Protection of people‟s right to enter forest and pick berries
4. No illegal market in forest products

41
There is evidence to show that a similar system was in operation in the
ancient kingdom of Sri Lanka, wher valuable timber was cultivated
and forest was scientifically maintained with the use of proper
legislation.

Chapter 4

Environmental Decision Making

We make decisions every second of our lives and the development of a

nation depends heavily on the type of decisions made by its rulers.
Environmental decision making of today has to be made on the basis
of the best available development strategy and the discussion it cannot
be separately discussed. Though developing countries except for a few
has no proper development strategy built into their development
programmes, the discussion on environmental decision making has to
be presented as a part of our education in this course.

Present direction of development strategy is placed within theory of

sustainability as environmental control is regarded as the most
important part of development. Therefore the discussion on
environmental decision making in this presentation is placed within
the concept of “sustainability in a globalised environment”. In the
collection of information on environmental decision making with use
of models, monitoring and auditing has to be placed within
sustainability. Further techniques of collecting information required
for environmental decision making is also presented here.
Three basic skills are required for environmental decision maker
Cognitive skills
Practical and or professional skills
Key skills

All activities require tools. All of us keep tools like knife, hammer and
screw driver in our houses as they are the most required tools in the
house. These tools are required to conduct the least problematic
problems in the house. Further we all work with tools all the time to
conduct work or repair to our living environment. Likewise, when we
require to make decisions on the utilisation of environment we have to
use various types of tools to understand the nature, capacity and
problems of the environment which we intend to utilise.
Cognitive skills
This is the most valuable skill an environmental manager requires in
decision making. Ability to
Analyse problems
Selecting irrelevant from relevant

42
Combined source material into composed presentation
Present material within the existing scientific order
Making judgements where a total base is not available using
experience and knowledge
Originality in handling and solving problems are a must for a decision
maker.

Practical and or professional skills

These skills are developed from experiences gathered from the
operating environment and the environment beyond where many
products and services originate. The understanding on the following is
most important
Proper use of environment
Preparation of appraisals on environment
Systems development in environment where understanding the
cyclic/non-cyclic operations of the environment
Preparation of material for academic and professional use
A very good understanding on legal issues and application of that
knowledge on society and business
Construction of an audit of a proper environmental organisation

Key skills
Communicability – environmental decision maker should be a good
communicator with the ability to present in writing, electronic system
and practical exhibition.
Ability to present to specialist and non-specialist
Excellent skills in numerical/quantitative/qualitative analysis on IT
based systems

Environmental decision making – case study – Landslide Control

Table 4.1.1 Cognitive skill

Skill In Sri Lanka and In developed
many developing countries
countries
Analyse problems Good scientific Good scientific
evaluation possible evaluation possible
Selecting irrelevant from Identify safe areas Long-term massive
relevant as massive control measures
construction is too possible
expensive
Combined source Agronomic and Constructed –
material into composed people centred technological
presentation system (like in the system

43
 ancient kingdom)
Present material within Capacity to support Capacity to support
the existing scientific locally available in and latest
order the University technology is
environmental available
management
Making judgements Participatory Technological
where a total base is not information system knowledge is very
available using is very useful useful
experience and
knowledge
Originality in handling People Oriented Hi-tech Disaster
and solving problems are Disaster management system
a must for a decision Management
maker System

Table 4.1.2 Practical and or professional skills

Skill In Sri Lanka and In developed

many developing countries
countries
Proper use of Not yet begun Begun
environment
Preparation of Not scientific Scientific
appraisals on
environment
Systems development Rare Normal
in environment where
understanding the
cyclic/non-cyclic
operations of the
environment
Preparation of material Available, but not Available and
for academic and properly utilised constantly used
professional use
A very good Yes, but the public Yes and strictly
understanding on legal sector does not followed
issues and application respond
of that knowledge on
society and business
Construction of an Rare Constantly in
audit of a proper opeartion
environmental
organisation

44
Table 4.1.3 Key skills

Skill In Sri Lanka In developed

and many countries
developing
countries
Communicability – environmental
decision maker should be a good Controlled Free system in
communicator with the ability to system in operation
present in writing, electronic operation
system and practical exhibition.

Ability to present to specialist and

non-specialist Limited ability High level of
due to political scientific
control ability
Excellent skills in
numerical/quantitative/qualitative Very good but Excellent
analysis on IT based systems not utilised
properly

Chapter 5

Environment risk analysis

45
Origin of Environmental Risk Analysis

There are two major levels of operation in the environment depending

on the impact on life. They are

1. good environment without risk

2. bad environment with risks

However, in a globalised world of today there is no environment

with a zero (0) risk, but any risk level less than 24 percent is
termed very low and not life threatening. The risk level of
environment changes from one phenomena to another. 24 percent
risk is not acceptable in driving or piloting an aircraft, but
acceptable in living on sloping land or flood plain.

By 1960s the industrialized countries of the world have reached an

advanced stage of development and began to evaluate the impact
of industrial development on environment. This action was
hastened through the occurrence of 1963-64 devastating drought
and famine in Africa and India which killed about 20 to 30 million
people. USA felt that the political destabilistion which can result
from problems of food security may destabilize their friendly
states in Africa and Asia as USSR is becoming a threat to USA in
the battle for economic superiority. Within this context USA
began establishment of environmental reglulatory system, which
was to become the world standard today. This is mainly due to the
realization that only scientific system of environmental
management is able to limit environmental disasters in a rapidly
growing economy and it is essential for it to become the super
power of the world.

Risk today is connected to all types of natural, societal and

business environmental situations. Though business risk is
considered in business management, business management has to
receive answers to their risks from other natural sciences or social
sciences (details of these risks are in Seneviratne, 2006a and
Seneviratne 2007a).

What is risk

Risk can be simply defined as “the state of harmful pressure

created between man and his living or working environment,
which can either damage man or his living and working
environment, creating hazard or develop into a disaster”.
46
Therefore risk can be of many types and come in many
dimensions affecting many different things of life and property.
However, the word “risk” denotes danger and any type of risk has
some part of danger attached to it, but not necessarily result in
loss. Facing natural disaster, loss of deposits of a bank, financial
corruption, administrative inefficiency, having multiple sex
partners, betting in horse racing, playing roulette, walking by the
side of road, sitting under a tree and sleeping are all with certain
amount of risk (Table 5.1)

Table 5.1 risk, global and local risk level of some common
systems (approximated using national, and global media data
bases from BBC/CNN)

Risk Risk level world Risk level –Sri

Lanka
Flood Once every 96 Once every 112
hours there is a days
flood in the world
Landslide Once every 34 Once every 90
hours days
Tornado Once every 2 hours Once every 6 days
Cyclone Once every 14 days Once every 200
days
Earthquake Once every 84 days Once every 115
days (tremors
only)
Loss of deposit of a Once every 120 Once every seven
bank/financial days years
institution
Financial corruption Once a minute or Once a minute or
more in developing more
world
Betting in horse 1 in a 100,000 1 in a 100,000
racing
Playing roulette 1 in a 100,000 1 in a 100,000
Fatal Road accident Every 2 minutes 7 every day
Sitting under a tree Every three years Every 4 years
Sleeping Every 15 hours Every 105 hours
(not including sick)
(not including
risk)
War One every 144 Average of 4 a
minutes day
Life expectancy Average of 51 for Average of 71
the developing without above
world without risks – with above
47
 above risks – with risks 62 years
above risks 42
years

Describing the risk environment

Identify potential adverse effects of risks

Likelihood of risk of an event, each effect
Influence of population on environment – survival index
Level of uncertainty in an environment
Historical evolution of risk and trend of future

Identify potential adverse effects of risks

Once the risk is identified in any environment (here after

environment is used in the meaning of natural, societal and
business environment) the first step is to identify the potential
adverse effects of the risks. Identify potential adverse effects of
risks. This process requires the use of mathematical and statistical
models to calculate exact placement and time of risk. Risk levels
can be easily calculated for all the hazards and disasters except for
earthquakes, with the use of modern knowledge of risk analysis
and disaster management.

Identification of potential adverse effects of risks has to be

conducted by the scientists involved in risk studies in the
respective fields. The steps in this exercise are to collect
Morphological information
Process information of the event

Table 5.2 Some morphological and process characteristics of risk

Event Morphology Process

Flood Deforestation / Poor environmental
construction on flood planning/ lack of
plain/ poor drainage on legislative support/
flood plain/ lack of insurance
48
 support
Landslide Deforestation / Application of
construction on steep principles of
slope, unstable ground, environmental control
poor road design
Tornado Air mass collision/ Cloud identification /
growth of deep local weather records
Cumulonimbus and trained observer
network through
schools and
universities
Earthquake/ Plate tectonics/ Monitoring lava flow
Vulcanism and plate movement
Financial Inefficiency/ gluttony Ethical failure
corruption
Betting in Sport/ Habit/ gluttony Believe in Chance
horse racing
Playing Sport/ Habit/ gluttony Believe in Chance
roulette
Fatal Road Poor road design/ poor Poor enforcement/
accident traffic regulations social and political
corruption
Sitting Fall of fruit/ lightning Exposure to elements/
under a tree strike/ branch fall exposure to organic
environment of the tree
Sleeping Rest / immobile Unsuspecting and
unexpecting processes
at work
War Ideology/ Conflict/ Battle/ terror/ carnage
fanatism
Life Nutrition / health Care and
expectancy service environmental support

Likelihood of risk of an event, each effect

Likelihood is the chance, odds or probability of an occurrence.

Likelihood is the probability of an outcome and concept of risk is
about probability of loss of a valuable resource, for example if the
present illegal felling of valuable timber in Sri Lanka continues
likelihood of loss of revenue to government in the next 10 years
will be around 200 to 300 billion rupees. Loss of hydro power
generation capacity due to same activity may be in the hundreds of
billions of rupees. The increased cost of thermal power
production will be also hundreds of billions of rupees. But with a
proper environmental plan with an investment of about 50 to 60
49
billion rupees, forest rehabilitation can be achieved and hydro
power generation can be stabilised. However these activities have
to be supported by proper legislation. This likelihood of damage
exists also in flood, landslide and traffic control in Sri Lanka,
which is responsible for about a 100 to 150 billion rupee damage
to economy annually.

What is the likelihood landslide in the high mountains ( 500

meters above sea level) in Sri Lanka?

Table 5.3 Likelihood of landslides (based on research 1966 to

2006)

Likelihood of major Likelihood of major

landslides (damage over landslides (damage over
100,000 rupees) in Sri 100,000 rupees) in Sri Lanka/
Lanka/annual rainy season
12 to 15 12 to 15

Table 5.4 Likelihood of hazard

Consequence High Medium Low Negligible

of hazard
Severe High High Medium Effectively
zero - less
Over 75 50 to 74 50 to 74 5 to 24 than
percent percent percent percent 1percent
Medium High Medium Medium/low Effectively
zero
5 to 24 50 to 74 5 to 24 1 to 24
percent less than
1percent
Low Medium/low Low Low Effectively
zero
1 to 5 1 to 24 1 to 5 1 to 5
Less than
1 percent
Negligible Effectively Effectively Effectively Effectively
less than 1 less than less than less than less than
1percent 1percent 1percent 1percent
zero

50
Influence of population on environment – survival capacity

Survival of human beings depends on their capacity to face

challenge of environment and survive. Modern development is a
result of that struggle between environment and human
knowledge. The developed world has managed to utilise
knowledge to use any available physical and human resource with
consent or by force to build its present standard of living.
Colonisation, slave trade, exploitation of mineral and other
resources of the poor countries, allowing corrupt people of the
developing countries to deposit large quantities of financial
resources in the financial institutions in the developed world,
political destabilisation of developing countries through
interference in their internal affairs, supporting certain
destabilising systems of developing countries, waging war as they
decide on the developing world and production of large quantities
of arms in the world market are only a few tactical systems used
by the developed world to stay rich and have a high living
standard. The people of the developing world are poor and
powerless making them highly vulnerable to hazards and disasters
as their living environment is not scientifically organised.
The capacity to survive in an environment can be calculated using
a score (Seneviratne, 1986).

Survival Capacity = Supports - Threats

Supports are the environmental resources which can support

human beings in their quest for life and development. For
example, availability of water, fertile soils and lack of conflict are
the three major categories of supports for the human society.
The major threats are the natural and societal hazards and conflict.
The list of supports and hazards in a specified environment has to
be identified by the researcher through his/her understanding and
experience on the study environment. The effect of each variable
used has to be calculated on percentages or ratios. Following
examples are extracted from Seneviratne (1986) and Seneviratne
(2006b and 2007a and 2007b), which utilises the scale given in
White (1976).

51
Table 5.5 Variables used and result for Bandarawela Town,
Temple Road

Variable Effect of the variable in percentages

75 and 50 to 74 25 to 49 1 to 24
over
Water availability 35
Soil fertility and 50
food support in the
area
Social support 40
systems Normal/
Hazard
Lack of water when 20
required
Hazard impact- 60
Natural
Hazard impact- 30
Societal

Survival Capacity = Supports - Threats

Survival Capacity = Support (water availability + Soil fertility and

food support + Social support system / Normal – Hazard) –
Threats (lack of water when required+ hazard impact/natural+
Hazard impact / societal)
Survival Capacity = 125 – 110
Survival Capacity = 15
The result of the final analysis has to be checked against Tables
5.6a or 5.6b depending on the nature of the answer. This has been
applied to places in Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Norway and in about
200 places worldwide and the index shows much resilience against
all types of climates and cultures.

52
Table 5.6 Quality of environment and survival capacity (explanation
for positive values
Quality of environment Survival
capacity
Very good with very low natural, societal and 75 and over
health risks
Good with annual occurrence of natural, societal 50 to 74
and health risks
Moderate with bi-annual or more occurrence of 25 to 49
natural, societal and health risks
Low with more than bi-annual occurrence of 1 to 24
natural, societal and health risks

Table 5.6 Quality of environment and survival capacity

(explanation for negative values)
Quality of environment Survival
capacity
Risky with more than bi-annual occurrence of - 1 to - 24
natural, societal and health risks
Very risky with more than bi-annual occurrence of - 25 to – 49
natural, societal and health risks, specially for low
income groups
Extremely risky with normal life is difficult , - 50 to – 74
specially for low income groups – malnutrition
present
Dangerous to live with serious threat from - 74 or higher
malnutrition and disease

53
 Table 5.7 Survival capacity scores for some selected places in
Sri Lanka (developing/ poor, Nigeria (developing) and
Norway (developed).

Site –Sri lanka Survival

Capacity
Colombo 10
Kandy 20
Galle 15
Kurunegala 15
Mahakanadarawa -35
Matale -10
Matara -25
Meegoda 50
Maligathenna (Bandarawela) 55
Mihinthale town -40
Millawana 45
Nalanda 45
Site - Nigeria
Gubio - 45
Magumeri - 55
Baga -35
Maiduguri -15
Jos -10
Site – Norway
Trondheim 60
Lonsdale 45
Oslo 35
Bergen 25

The result indicates the level of quality of environment and the

effect of risks on societal environment. The calculation of the
survival capacity of these settlements was conducted using a
detailed questionnaire which investigated their natural and societal
environment in detail (Appendix 1).
Variables of support and threat system in Table 5.5 were
composite variables where many sub-variables were involved.
Water availability was measured with the use of following sub-
variables during the survey.
Water availability = ( drinking water quality + water for crops +
water for domestic use + water for industrial use + seasonal
availability + poor drainage). Water related diseases are the major
threat to health in the developing world. Malaria, dengue, cholera,
dysentery, schistosomiasis, onchorociasis, and other diarrhoeal
diseases result from lack of clean drinking water and unsafe

54
bathing water. About 30 percent of the total hospital morbidity
and about 40 percent of morbidity reported to private medical
practitioners were related to interaction with water in 2000 (
Seneviratne, 2003). National data ( Ministry of Health, 2000)
indicate that safe drinking water is available to 68.4 percent of the
population, but about 68 percent of the sample used in this survey
said that they have to boil or re-filter water before drinking
indicating that only 32 percent were satisfied with the safe
drinking water provided by the national system. All the
conferences or meetings attended by the author since 1996
(including some in the Ministry of Health) provided bottled spring
water for the participants. Poor drainage is given as the major
factor responsible the high incidence of dengue, malaria and
diarrhoeal diseases in our urban areas. Health data indicate that
urban areas have the highest incidence of waste related diseases.
For example lack of sufficient quantity of quality drinking water
makes dry zone areas and towns in Sri Lanka more hazardous to
live than the rest of the environment. The selected places in
Nigeria show highly negative results due to poor drinking water
status, presence of malaria and many other infectious diseases and
extremely poor public social service system and heavy socio-
political corruption. It is clear that heavy socio-political corruption
makes many places in the developing world to have negative
scores and most of the developed countries to have positive scores.
Norway which is a country with very low levels of socio-political
corruption and high social support level scores well though it is
located in a harsh and cold environment.
The survival capacity of any place on earth is not expected to rise
above 75 percent as all places on the surface of the earth have
some form of natural and societal hazards and any score of – 20
and above is acceptable as a limit for a fairly secure life.

Level of uncertainty in an environment

Level of uncertainty is partially represented by the survival index

and risk level but it is possible to derive an index of uncertainty
with the help of survival index. The level of uncertainty rises with
the reduction in survival capacity because the effect of threats
leads to reduction of survivability. For example, in Colombo
survival capacity is reduced by the collection of factors like poor
drainage (dengue is a major threat) terrorism ( security problem),
poor quality drinking water ( it is not safe to drink from tap due to
contamination on the way to the tap) and poor law and order

55
situation (corruption) etc. all these above mentioned factors
contribute to uncertainty as reliable data on these activities are rare
and unreliable.

Level of uncertainty = 100 - 10

Colombo level of uncertainty = 90

It is proven through observation and analysis of data that in

Colombo the risk of poor drainage, poor quality drinking water
and terrorism is close to a 50 / 50 chance.

Kandy level of uncertainty = 100 – 20

= 80

In Kandy, the risk of landslide has a 65 percent chance, poor

quality drinking water has a 55 percent chance and terrorism has a
40 percent chance. Threat of terrorism is lower in Kandy than in
Colombo because the international community reacted strongly
against the bombing of Dalada Maligawa than any other bombing.

Maligathenna level of uncertainty = 100 – 55

= 45

Table 5.8 Survival capacity scores for some selected places in

Sri Lanka (developing/ poor, Nigeria (developing) and
Norway (developed).

Site –Sri lanka Survival Level of

Capacity uncertainty
Colombo 10 90
Kandy 20 80

56
 Galle 15 85
Kurunegala 15 85
Mahakanadarawa -35 135
Matale -10 110
Matara -25 125
Meegoda 50 50
Maligathenna 55 45
(Bandarawela)
Mihinthale town -40 140
Millawana 45 55
Nalanda 45 55
Site - Nigeria
Gubio - 45 145
Magumeri - 55 155
Baga -35 135
Maiduguri -15 115
Jos -10 110
Site – Norway
Trondheim 60 40
Lonsdale 45 55
Oslo 35 65
Bergen 55 45

Historical evolution of risk and trend of future

Risk of built up environment has increased with the development

of society from an aboriginal state to modern as the number of
activities of the human being has increased with development.
Risk analysis is becoming extremely important as the value of lost
property and life increases with modern living systems. For
example loss of life in an aboriginal society was evident as they
had no social support systems of security and health as we know
today. At present state expenditure on life in developed world is
considered heavily valuable and any loss of life is a serious blow
to their dignity and status. However, developing nations of the
world loose much valuable human resources due to lack of
national environmental management plans and enforcement of
environmental regulations.

For example crossing a river at high water is one of the major risks
when good quality ropes and safety jackets were not available and
today armies and hunters can cross any river without a serious

57
threat to their lives or property with the use of this safety
equipment. However in the developing countries loss of life due to
many natural and societal hazards is increasing as people take
unnecessary risks as they are gaining more freedom with lessening
of legal and social controls. Therefore evolution of risk and trend
of future are influenced by historical evolution of technology,
social freedom and attitudes. Media reports, comments made by
geologists and academics on the occurrence of natural and societal
disasters are used to present the following table which indicate the
non-utilisation of available knowledge and readiness for future in
a developing country.

58
 Table 5.9 Risk and future trend for some selected risks in developing countries

Risk Previous Public Individ Historical evolution Future trend Weighted

knowledge action ual 1950 to 1980 1981 to 2010 damage level
action
Landslide Available Ignoranc Unable Moderate damage/ Heavy damage/ 4
e 1950 to 1980 200 400 billion rupee damage expected –
billion rupees – serious disruption of livelihoods
visible disruption of expected
livelihoods
Floods Available Ignoranc Unable Heavy damage from Very heavy damage from few large and 6
e to do large floods/ 1950 to many flash floods 700 billion rupees -
much 1980 serious disruption of livelihoods
400 billion rupees - expected
visible disruption of
livelihoods
Road Available Ignoranc Unable Low damage due to Very heavy due to high density and 7
damage e low density and fairly fairly low level of application of
high level of legislation - serious destruction of
application of property and life expected
legislation - visible
disruption of travel
Reservoir Available Ignoranc Unable Low damage as there Very heavy due to high rates of 4
problems e were very few dams sedimentation in reservoirs, damage
expected between 2000 and 2010 due to
loss of power generation and
sedimentation is about 600 to 2000
billion rupees /year
Soil erosion Available Ignoranc Unable Low damage as there Very heavy due to high rates of erosion 6
and e were very few dams and sedimentation resulting from poor
sedimentati landscape planning leading to massive

59
on of damage to all types of environment
waterways,
access
systems
(roads and
drainage
systems)
and burial
or removal
of
vegetative
matter
Weighted damage is calculated on a 1 to 10 scale / 1 lowest and 10 is the highest. Equally calculated for both
developing and developed countries.

Table 5.10, Utilisation of available knowledge and readiness for future in a developed country.

Risk Previous Public Individual Historical evolution Future trend Weighted

knowledge action action 1950 to 1980 1981 to 2010 damage
level
Landslide Available Careful Highly Low damage Heavy damage/ 1
planning enabled noted but no visible but under
disruption and immediate controlled system
recovery of recovery
Floods Available Careful Highly Heavy damage from large Heavy damage 2
planning enabled floods/ heavy local from few large
damage but recovery and many flash
immediate floods / but under
controlled system
of recovery
Road damage Available Negligible Highly Negligible Negligible 1

60
 controlled
Reservoir Available Negligible Highly Low damage as control Negligible 1
problems controlled measures are in place
Soil erosion and Available Negligible Highly Low damage as control Negligible 1
sedimentation controlled measures are in place
Weighted damage is calculated on a 1 to 10 scale / 1 lowest and 10 is the highest. Equally calculated for both
developing and developed countries.

61
Increased risk from natural and societal hazards and
disasters were discussed in detail in relation to Sri
Lanka by Seneviratne, 1975,1977, Siddhisena and
Seneviratne, 2002, Seneviratne and Karunaratne, 2003
a, Seneviratne, 2003 b, 2006a and 2006b, which
compares well with the increasing risk level of natural
and societal hazards and disasters. Figure indicate the
temporal development of hazard levels in Sri Lanka.
Information released recently (Stefan Lovgren, 2005)
indicate that climatic change refugees may rise to about
450 million by 2050 and the total property damage may
be about 2000 to 4000 billion US Dollars. The rate of
corruption in the developing world has also increased in
the past two decades with addition of countries like Sri
Lanka into heavily corrupted list of nations.

Figure Graphical representation of loss of balance and

disaster damage in developing countries (six selected
land system set)

4 RAINFALL
DROUGHT
FLOOD
3
PEOPLE
LITERACY
2 DISASTER DAMAGE

0
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2010

Figure Graphical representation of loss of balance and

disaster damage in developing countries (six selected
social system set)

5 PEOPLE
ETHICS
4 CONFLICT
ETHNICITY
3 LITERACY
BELIEFS
2 DISASTER DAMAGE

0
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2010
62
Therefore, natural and societal hazards and disasters are
increasing at an alarming rate at present making world a more
and more dangerous place to live. However, developed
countries have managed to limit damages and destruction
through use of environmental management principles in their
development process.

Cost Benefit Analysis

Basics of cost benefit analysis inform us of the benefit of a

project in relation to its cost of inauguration. In business it is
directly related to profit. In social projects the benefit may be
qualitative and the financial benefit may be received long after
its inauguration or the benefit will be transferred to another part
of the economy. In the developed world transfer of benefit of
social projects are monitored well to gain maximum returns, but
in the developing world monitoring of social projects are poor
and there is a net loss to the economy. This net loss leads to
continuation of poverty and underdevelopment.

The cost benefit of environmental management is also in the

group of long term benefit systems though some micro-
environmental systems will bring immediate benefits. Table
show in brief the cost benefit relationship of environmental
resources.

Activity Cost Benefit Reasons for

failure
Afforestation
Wev (tank)
repair
Rural road
construction

For example reforestation is the basic requirement of survival of

mankind as it controls water availability and production of
organic matter, but if it is not conducted on the modern
principle of forest harvesting, rural populace will be not
cooperative to the projects as we experience illegal extraction
of forest resources in Sri Lanka. Therefore any successful 63
reforestation in Sri Lanka has to be operated in unison with the
development of harvesting technology. In here the type of trees
and shrubs used in reforestation has to be in accordance with the
demand for timber and firewood of the locality and national
requirement. Establishment of plantations and employment of
regulation as we conduct today has not reaped the expected
benefits and the cost of present system of reforestation cannot
be justified.

Wev or tank repair is one of the most common activities

conducted in Sri Lanka today. Millions if not billions are spent
on this programme of repairs to wev system by every elected
government since independence. However, the wev system has
not been able to provide the required service to the farming
population because the environmental management system
needed by the wev system isnot practiced. Therefore only one of
the variables of the wev system is organized by repair and the
cathcment stabilization is not conducted. Lack of catchment
stabilization leads to constant supply of sediments to the system,
reduce spring water capacity and increase overland flow which
lead to rapid filling up of weva (tank). The success of the Wev
system in the ancient kingdom was maintained by settlement
and slope preservation technology employed by the kingdom,
which we have not understood in present day development
system in Sri Lanka. Therefore the benefit of wev (tank)
restoration is felt only marginally on farming communities.

Rural roads are in a state of chaos today with minimum of 5

media reports daily presenting reports on them. A survey
conducted in 7 provinces in Sri Lanka covering 1754 kilometers
indicates that the major causes of road destruction are mainly a
result of lack of understanding of what is a road? A road is
composed of two major units.
1. area for vehicular traffic
2. are for pedestrian traffic

However, roads in Sri Lanka are rarely with these two items
proportionately to the requirement. 84 percent of the time rural
road surface is blocked by parked vehicles, construction
material, conversing drivers, sediments, solid waste and waste
water. 97 percent of the time rural roads have not provided
space for pedestrians. 91 percent of the sampled mileage of rural
roads has no proper drains. In addition the quality of rural road
construction is poor and about86 percent of the interviewed
were opinion that political and institutional corruption is
responsible for the poor quality rural roads.

“ I took the contract with good faith, but they did not pay me64
correctly, but as you know the member who is in-charge of the
construction has bought new vehicle” was a response recorded
during a survey in Central Province, where the road surface
constructed by the contractor is of good quality (the road
surface constructed by this contractor was under observation for
4 years and without any maintenance it has managed to stay
fairly motorable until the authors last visit in December 2006
field class. 34 percent of rural road surfaces
All the above examples indicate that cost benefit analysis in
relation to environmental management rests on the concept of
basic needs and sustainability. This demands that a societal
approach, which can be constructed on the participatory model
is more suited for any cost benefit analysis exercise in
environmental management.
Environmental cost benefit accounting is widely discussed in
research since the arrival of basic needs concept and many types
of methodologies are used in the analysis. There is no single
methodology as the methodology has to change with changing
nature of problems.

In relation to products market based methods are useful when

prices in the market can be based on cost of production and cost
of changes in environmental quality. Services can follow the
same method if they are conducted by private enterprise.
However, services conducted by state authorities cannot be
evaluated in the same way as cost of social services is a prime
responsibility of a state.

Example-

65
 Cost of Rs. Environmental Rs. Loss to
production cost per environment
kilogramme per 1
kilogramme
Rs.
1 10.00 Short term 6.00
kilogramme
of paddy (
with
chemical
inputs)
Selling price 15.00 Long term 3.00
1
kilogramme
of paddy (
with
chemical
inputs)
Profit 5.00 Total 9.00
environment
cost
4.00

Cost of Rs. Environmental Rs. Gain to

production cost per environment
kilogramme per 1
kilogramme
Rs.
1 12.00 Short term 1.00
kilogramme
of paddy (
with organic
matter)
Selling price 15.00 Long term 1.00
1
kilogramme
of paddy (
with organic
matter)
Profit 3.00 Total 2.00
environment
cost
1.00

For example the implementation of a scientific environmental

66
management plan of the ancient Rajarata civilisation has
transformed the vegetation environment of North central
province from a monsoon rain forest to monsoon parkland
where a massive water storage –supply system redesigned the
settlements and natural vegetation. Important tree varieties were
helped through planting and forest harvesting was utilised to
collect many types of forest products required for medicine and
festivities. Today, non-utilisation of a scientific environmental
planning has brought either lower benefits or no benefits from
environmental utilisation and north central province is troubled
by water shortages, water related diseases and poverty of
population. Market based methods used to evaluate cost benefit
in this region are being overshadowed by many environmental
problems.

In other cases surrogate market values can be used to calculate

environmental cost of a given project, when proper values are
not available. Property values can be utilised to price productive
lands in a landslide prone area and land which may be utilised
for area allocated for reforestation.

Case of Kandeketiya -1998 slump which is still active and will

continue for another 10 to 15 years.

Cost of Rs. Environmental Rs.

housing of cost of
20 low cost housing
housing
units
1978 value 600,000 Cost of Short 34,000
term cracking
and breaks
1994 to 1998
Undamaged 3,500,000.00 Landslide 1,400,000.00
property damage (1998
value cost)
(1998)

67
 Total value 2,100,000.00 Total 7,000,000.00
of housing environment
after the cost due to
slide (with poor site
addition of selection
some (burial of
recovered cultivated
building land, loss of
material) livelihoods,
loss of soil,
burial of soil,
vegetation
damage)
Total 5,600,000.00 Total 8,434,000.00
Total loss for 2,834,000.00
selecting site
If the 4,900,000.00
housing
was
constructed
on a stable
site (value
at 1998)

Note- this site was classified as a probable slump site,

but the local authorities have allowed people to build on
it due to social pressure.

Benefits received from protection or remediation of

environmental resources cannot always be justified. Sometimes
the cost to environment is always higher than the services
provided by the natural capital. In this type of cases replacement
cost approach can be used to evaluate the cost benefit.

68
 Cost Value Income Profit Profit without
remediation
Economic value of forest 20,000,000.00
(with good quality natural
timber)

Value of timber 50,000,000.00

Profit 30,000,000.00 30,000,000.00
Cost of Loss of organic 6,000,000.00
matter, fodder and springs
Profit after Cost of Loss of 24,000,000.00 24,000,000.00
organic matter, fodder and
springs
Cost of Replanting and 5,000,000.00
maintenance to next crop
Profit after replacement 19,000,000.00 19,000,000.00
Cost of replacement of 6,000,000.00
organic matter, fodder and
springs over a period of 15
years
Profit after total expenditure 13,000,000.00 13,000,000.00
Value of new crop after 15 120,000,000.00 60,000,000.00
years with environment (reduction of value by
remediation environmental
degradation reduce
growth of forest)
Cost of environmental 50,000,000.00 If decided to conduct
remediation environmental
remediation at this level
cost will be about
100,000,000.00

69
Profit after environmental 70,000,000.00 No profit only a loss
remediation

70
Contingent valuation methods are useful when price information is not available and
competitive market is present. In here environment is not considered valuable and
environmental degradation is not considered an important variable in development. All the
developing and a few developed countries follow this type of model. Sri Lanka is noted for
following this type of model and its natural resources are squandered by a few elites
resulting in serious environmental degradation in all sectors of environment. With reference
to forestry, sand extraction, clay extraction, soil erosion and sedimentation of rivers and
reservoirs Sri Lanka has reached a point of no return by 2005. though there are about 14 to
20 organisations involved in environmental work Sri Lanka is yet to implement the
programme of environmental recovery.

Role of Benefit-Cost Analysis

Benefit-cost analysis is a useful tool for assessing the economic effects of projects, policies
or programs. The purpose is to provide a selection that would eliminate projects that are a
hindrance to economic development.

Randall (1991) lists two important issues relating to quality control: one, the principles are
clearly specified for empirical benefit-cost analysis and are based on sound economic
principles; and two, the benefit-cost analysis documents are available for public scrutiny to
expose the improper use of theory and practice.

The estimation of costs is relatively simple compared with estimating the benefits.
Environmental costs must be accounted for in any cost benefit analysis. There is a serious
lack of data available on the value of biodiversity, but it does not mean that we should forget
the value of biodiversity

Valuation techniques and the steps to be followed in monetising the benefits from
biodiversity

1) methods based on actual market prices

2) methods based on surrogate market prices
3) methods based on simulated market prices.

It should be noted that most cost-benefit studies use partial analysis as

opposed to a general equilibrium analysis.

Two assumptions are made in these studies.

1. prices of all inputs and outputs other than the good in question
are held constant.
2. resulting benefits do not lead to any changes in the real incomes.

General equilibrium analysis allows

1. for changes in both prices and incomes and takes into account the
71
 indirect effects of a policy.

Coalescing Impacts over Time

Benefit cost analysis is generally done in two stages

First, the benefits and costs of a given activity is calculated for each year that it is effective.

Second, an aggregate net present value is calculated by discounting future costs and benefits
to present day value and then adding them up over the years studied.

If the net present value is positive, that is present value benefits exceed present value costs,
the policy makes economic sense.

Discounting is done so that benefits and costs occurring at different times can be aggregated
and expressed in composite form.

There are two justifications for discounting

1. most consumers consider present day benefits to be more valuable than future.
2. resources invested now will increase productivity and wealth in the future.

72
The discount rate, r, is the premium they are willing to pay, expressed as a percentage
over a specified period. Funds received today are worth, at the end of the first period, a
total of (1+r) times the amount of funds. Equivalently, an amount of funds to be received
at the end of the period are worth 1/(1+r) times that amount at the beginning of the
period.

While discounting is a common procedure, the issue of what is an appropriate discount

rate to use for public projects can be debated.

For policies or programs, particularly those having consequences lasting well beyond the
typical 10 to 25 year life spans of most private sector investments, a lower "social
discount rate" may be warranted.

Treatment of inflation is another issue in the determination of a discount rate. The

nominal rates observed in the market place include a component that reflects expected
inflation. A real interest rate removes the inflation. Real discount rates between 3 and 8
percent are most often used in cost-benefit analysis in developed countries while in
developing countries it can be as high as 10 or 12%. Often, rates used by government
agencies or international organisations such as The World Bank are used as benchmarks.
Finally, in a cost-benefit study, it is recommended to carry out a sensitivity analysis to
see how net benefits are affected by different discount rates.

73
Chapter 6

Field techniques

Field techniques in the understanding and testing the principles of environmental

management

Field techniques in environmental management are taken from the basic techniques
available in natural and social sciences. Further, the student of environmental
management has to utilise the physical resource evaluation and management assessment
techniques available in many social sciences. The techniques provided here are aimed at
giving a primary insight to the application of principles in major problems studied within
the special degree in environmental management.

Aim is to find techniques to identify environmental damage and guide the specialist for
detailed study.

Natural Environmental studies

The major hazards and disasters related to natural environment are related to materials
and processes at the earth surface. Damages from landslides, floods, tornadoes, cyclones,
earthquakes, and tsunamis are closely related to landform environment. Though,
tornadoes and cyclones are of climatic origin their damage level has a relationship to
land form and materials at the surface of the earth natural or constructed. For example
damage from a cyclone is felt more in a sandy lowland than in a rocky beach front.
Tornado in a rocky mountain area will not be damaging as in a plain with soft soils. This
is because stronger materials reduce damage to land surface and buildings built on it.
Further slope factor decides the stability of the buildings depending on the bed rock
properties. For examples highest damage by landslides and creep in Sri Lanka is
reported from where deep regolith (deeply weathered soils with rock debris is present) is
present.

Geomorphological map contain information on genesis, age and morphology of the land
surface. Therefore it is a document with information on processes of past, and present
land formation and evolution (Bennett, 1994; Bennett, and Boulton, 1993; Bennett and
Boulton, 1993: Bennett, et.al 1998; Bromley, 1998; Lowe and Walker, 1998;
Slaymaker and Spencer, 1998).

Geomorphological mapping is a technique which can be used easily to identify level of

risk of any natural hazard of a selected area. This is possible because it maps the
materials and process of a physical unit of landform. This method was discovered in the
developed world in the 1970s and they have compiled detailed maps of their countries
which have formed massive data banks on environmental conditions. However, the
developing countries have not utilised this technique and still struggle to identify and
control many natural hazards within their boundaries. Mapping is conducted in three
major stages.

Stage 1 74
Selection of the area from a 1:10,000 scale topographic map

Stage 2
Field mapping of all material and process information during all the major seasons of the
area.

Advantages

Geomorphlogical map shows the location of materials and processes. For example
Figure shows a basic geomorphological map of Suwaddakanda catchment located along
Mihinthale – Vauniya Raod around 83 rd Mile post (134th Kilometer mark). The symbols
used simplified as printing facilities available to the author is limited. When printing
facilities are readily available the international symbols and key can be tuilised in the
map construction. Information for this map which covers an are of 2.1 square kilometres
collected from a three day field work by two students (Jayantha Ranasinghe and Dilip
Gamini Senannayake guided by the author).

The detailed International Key for Geomorphological Mapping is available in the

Department of Social Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihinthale.

Stage 3

Production of the final map (See Map1)

Symbols, letters and other systems for mapping are available from various sources (),
but a simple system to identify the hazardous areas can be constructed using locally
favourite symbols and letters.

Societal Environmental Studies

Societal environmental hazards and disasters are studied using various types of
techniques with varying degree of statistical value. Questionnaire, group interview,
informal interview, life history recordings and informal interviews are used widely
today in collection of societal information. However the present trend is to use people
oriented systems based on discourse, text and narrative analysis taken from sociology.
Participatory system techniques like life history recordings, record keeping and
compilation of spatial data into maps are also used.

The major instrument in the study of environmental management in relation to its

strength and weaknesses is the SWOT analysis.

The SWOT Analysis is a simple tool that gives profound insights into any assessment.
SWOT is shorthand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It is the first
step in developing a strategy for the future. It will point out what needs to be done to
maximize industry‟s strengths, minimize its weaknesses, take advantage of
opportunities, and minimize or eliminate industry‟s threats. Strengths and Weaknesses
are typically internal factors, whereas Opportunities and Threats are more typically
external factors. It is an excellent tool to use in assessing your competitive position
versus competition. This is a systematic identification of these factors and the strategy

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that reflects the best match between them. It is based on the logic that an effective
strategy maximizes a business‟s strengths and opportunities but at the same time
minimize its weakness and threats. This simple assumption, if accurately applied,
has powerful implications for successful choosing and designing effective strategy.
The SWOT Analysis consists of an external scan and an internal assessment. The
External Scanning Process is undertaken to identify the major threats and
opportunities that face the organization or industry in the foreseeable future. The
Internal Assessment Process is conducted to examine the strengths and weaknesses
of the organization and its ability to respond to threats and take advantage of
opportunities. To begin the analysis some basic decisions need to be made
concerning who will be involved, what needs to be assessed, what the deliverables
will be, and when it needs to be done by. The Action Plan tool can be very helpful in
doing this. Also, Brainstorming and Affinity can be used to identify the external
search areas. A large list of questions is provided to assist with the internal
assessment? These questions can be revised to better support the purpose of the
assessment and the time and resources available. Unrelated questions can be deleted
and more appropriate ones can be added. Similarly, Analyzer should be able to fine
tune the most critical areas in all four segments. Whereby SWOT analysis could be
completed with precise decision of what would the next move going to be.
Importantly, collection of data must do with utmost care. There should not be a
room for repeat same identified area in different classification or under estimate the
weight of any given factor. Lines up the facts are the most important and easily
misguiding task of the SWOT analysis .However careful analytical skills rigorously
demand in formulating strategy in the light of SWOT.

SWOT can be conducted with the help of specially designed questionnaires,

interviews and collection of life histories.

Life history survey has proven to be a valuable tool in environmental degradation

and destruction. Used carefully life history surveys can get a composite picture of
the environment with reference to forest, water resources and animals. Further it
gives information on level of contact between the natural environment and societal
environment.

Detailed surveys conducted by students of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka indicate

that life history data is highly reliable and cover wide area of information. Further,
there is a possibility of spatial comparisons between localities using this
information.

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