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A top international expert on water, food security and climate change has stressed the need for having a comprehensive, well-researched and unbiased Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for small and mega development projects, sky-rise buildings, energy projects and infrastructure development projects, if Sri Lanka is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Dr. agr. Sisira S. Withanachchi, a Senior Researcher at the University of Kassel, Germany, an expert reviewer of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and also a member of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), claimed that most EIAs done in Sri Lanka on some development projects comprised hollow words and hurriedly-prepared documents.
“Most EIAs carried out by experts in Sri Lanka are not independent studies and those experts are not accountable for the repercussions caused due to those development projects. The team members in such misleading EIAs just manipulate the conditions, status and future consequences either based on monetary interest from developers or due to pressure from politicians,” Dr. Withanachchi emphasised.
In an interview with Daily FT during his brief visit to Sri Lanka to deliver a lecture on ‘Hydro-Diplomacy: Water as a Tool in International Relations’ organised by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, he explained the importance of carrying out comprehensive EIA studies which hold stakeholders accountable for their projects.
Following are excerpts:
By Shanika Sriyananda
Q: Why is hydro-diplomacy important to Sri Lanka?
Although Sri Lanka, an island nation, doesn’t have trans-boundary water resources like lakes, rivers and aquifers, we have geopolitical importance to hydro-diplomacy, which is an important area for the policymakers, for those who are in the Foreign Service and also for those who are in water resource management.
When it comes to signing bilateral or multilateral agreements between countries on rivers or lakes, the stakeholders need to consider or understand how to contribute to regional water quality, climate conditions in the region, etc. This is why hydro-diplomacy is important.
On the other hand, hydro-diplomacy is important for students who are aspiring to become policymakers or to enter diplomatic service. Foreign policies of a country are far different from drafting national policies as they will be addressing issues and strengthening relationships globally.
Mapping issues related to water is important in forming foreign policies to understand and create conflict resolution mechanisms under hydro-diplomacy. Employment opportunities in water resource management are also growing and hydro-diplomacy is becoming an important area in the Foreign Service as disputes over water issues are becoming common in many countries due to water scarcity. Sri Lanka is a hotspot in water resource management. The Headquarters of the International Water Management Institute, one of the international platforms in water resources management, is based in Sri Lanka. Our irrigation system, which is over 3,000 years old, is recognised as one of oldest irrigation systems in the world. In this sense Sri Lanka is a focal point in water resource management.
Hydro-diplomacy can be used as a concept or principal tool to understand and find out some solutions for internal water resource management issues or the problems that Sri Lanka is facing currently in water resource management. This can also be used as a tool to coordination with various Government institutions, NGOs, civil societies and the private sector. Hydro-diplomacy is important for internal governance in Sri Lanka.
Q: Do you see any lapses in water management in Sri Lanka?
Water resource management in Sri Lanka is centralised. The Central Government has the authority to govern water resources in the country. The top level ministries have high level power, which is passing decisions to the next level – the Provincial and Pradeshiya Sabha level – and then to departments and other institutions. Sri Lanka has already adopted the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) concept but the question is to what scale the IWRM concept is accepted and implemented in the water management process.
We see that IWRM decisions are taken at policy level, but they are not taken at grass root level. In countries like Germany, the Local Government authorities and civil societies have the opportunity to decide on their requirement, especially in the water supply to their locality, water purification, water quality control and other water-related management tasks. These functions come under municipality level. It is a bottom-to-top system, where the issues at grass root level are resolved by the Local Government authorities and if not they will be directed to Provincial level and then to National level. It is high time that Sri Lanka also considers implementing these systems to manage the country’s water resources effectively.
Sri Lanka is concerned about decentralising systems but I think we should not implement such a system based on ethnic proportion; it should be based on an administrative decentralisation to devolve power to local level authorities to govern and manage their resources.
Although rivers in Sri Lanka do not have international trans-boundaries, we have boundaries at provincial level. Therefore, we could go for water basin governance rather than institutional-based governing systems to give the opportunity to many stakeholders to become part of that governing structure.
For example, the Rhine River, which is one of the largest river basins in Europe, runs through Switzerland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Liechtenstein. River Rhine in Germany has micro level river basin governing councils where industries, local government authorities, civil organisations, etc. have become partners of the Council. The Basic Law (Grundgesetz) and other policies such as municipal codes (Gemeindeordnungen) have empowered local governments to manage their governance as part of the right to self-government and based on the principle of subsidiary. Several local governments initiated the cooperate water management association called Wasserverbände to manage their shared natural resources, particularly issues related to water resources.
We conducted an elaborative research study on the importance of the empowerment of local governance entities in water quality governance, Georgia. This research result is published in Water Journal 2018. (Withanachchi, et al., ‘A Paradigm Shift in Water Quality Governance in a Transitional Context: A Critical Study about the Empowerment of Local Governance in Georgia’.)
We can also form a similar water basin management system by fostering many stakeholders into the governing platform to give them an opportunity to be partners of the system. Here, we cannot exclude the private sector and farmers and when it is a multi-stakeholder platform, all partners have to be responsible for the river basin management process.
According to some research, heavy metal pollution has been observed in the Kelani River, which is being polluted due to effluents released by some industries including multi-national industries. Unfortunately, no team of medical experts has carried out research to hold polluters accountable for the damages. The preliminary studies should elaborate with an inter-disciplinary research aspect.
It is very pathetic that in Sri Lanka no one is accountable for what they do. In most countries, people are accountable when they pollute water.
In Georgia, we did a research study at the Mashavera River from 2015 to 2018 to calculate water quality as it was polluted due to heavy metals. We recommended National level changes to the Government, which were discussed in its Parliament, followed by the appointing of a National Environment Council to investigate the issue within two months. It later took strict regulation towards new mining sites which were found to be polluting the water. The results of the study are available in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health under the title ‘Water Quality in Surface Water: A Preliminary Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination of the Mashavera River, Georgia’.
Q: Some experts believe that water resources need to be privatised to have a better IWRM system. What are your views?
Privatisation is definitely not the solution to implement a better IWRM system. It is already a failed policy at global level. Year 2010 marked a turning point with the UN declaring water as a human right (28 July 2010 – UN Resolution 64/292). It says: ‘The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realisation of other human rights.’ Looking at water as an economic term, there is a cost if we are taking it from the tap.
We are also concerned about large companies buying springs belonging to local communities for bottling water. In South Africa and California, there is a severe scarcity of water due to exploiting ground of water resources, which are over-extracted for bottling water by private companies.
Q: It has been found that the country’s ground water recharge is in a critical state due to development projects as well as cementing of floors with no space left to absorb rain water. Will Sri Lanka face a severe ground water scarcity soon?
Some researchers are carrying out studies to assess the ground water situation in the country. However, Sri Lanka has a very diverse ground water table depending on the soil condition and this is why some areas have poor water quality while other areas have drinkable water. Generally, wells are the main ground water source in many part of the country.
Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) has become a serious issue in the dry zone due to over use of fertiliser and ground water pollution. We are carrying out a research study together with the Rajarata University, Sri Lanka and the University of Kassel and Braunschweig, Germany, to look into the problem in social sciences aspect.
We concluded in the study that reverting to the era prior to the green revolution era, where we grew fruits and vegetables organically, is the best option to control CKD and other health issues related to chemical-based agriculture. All kinds of fertilisers, weedicides and pesticides were introduced to Sri Lanka’s agriculture in the 1980s, which made us get used to chemicals and we lost our organic farming practices. Our study revealed how agrarian officers deployed the idea of intensive agricultural tools including pesticides (such as insecticides) and herbicides, for example glyphosate.
In Germany, we promote organic agriculture as we have nitrogen pollution in the ground water in some parts of the country. The situation in Europe is the same and they mostly promote organic agriculture.
I think it is high time for Sri Lanka to shift from intensive chemical-based agriculture to organic farming (as a low-input agriculture) as we have already lost soil fertility, water quality and seed sovereignty. Ground and surface water are also getting polluted badly due to chemical fertiliser usage. In the dry zone, people drink polluted water and this might also be a reason for CKDU; there are several research studies on this issue. Organic agriculture will increase water use efficiency and enhance agricultural water productivity.
Q: Sri Lanka has been experiencing extreme climatic changes over the last few years. Will this affect the country’s ground water table and will there be water scarcity in the future?
Yes, it could happen, but I cannot definitely say that Sri Lanka will be affected due to changing climatic conditions as climate change is a long-term phenomenon. The NOAA’s National Centre for Environmental Information has recorded higher than average temperature in January for the last three years. Some European countries, including the UK and Germany, are currently experiencing the warmest spring. Seawater and normal temperature have continuously risen in each January over the previous three years.
Climatic change is happening, but we have to measure it to find the frequency with which it is occurring. Sri Lanka’s coastal belt will be affected by sea levels rising as it is an island nation. When coastal erosion, occurs sea water will intrude into ground water.
We can observe short- and long-term droughts in Sri Lanka. Short-term droughts will heavily effect social systems. Farmers are facing water scarcity and well water is getting dried up suddenly. It will affect the water supply in rural areas and they will not have water for domestic and agricultural purposes. Some research has been done to find out the effects of climatic change on society. They have found that there is an impact on the country’s agriculture and society. Climatic change in some parts of the world will affect other countries. No one can escape this phenomenon.
Q: Some development projects which have approved EIAs have failed and caused damage to people and property in the vicinity. Do you think the experts who prepared the EIAs should be accountable for the repercussions?
Yes, they should definitely be accountable for their assessments. I gave a lecture at the University of Rajarata recently on EIAs and how they are accountable or how they justify the EIAs. After the lecture, students came up with remarkable suggestions on how to hold the stakeholders accountable for their decisions.
Unfortunately, most of the EIAs done in Sri Lanka on some development projects are just hollow words and hurriedly-prepared documents. They are not comprehensive and independent investigations.
For example, in Germany, the EIAs on any development project, whether it be small or large development projects, factories, buildings, infrastructure projects, etc., the Government or private companies which are involved in preparing EIAs carry out independent assessments with experts from diverse fields who are not biased and are difficult to bribe.
In Sri Lanka, the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development project is the best example for a failed EIA study, which had been carried out by academics and experts. How many have people suffered due to damages that occurred due to these projects? Their lives are at risk. This proves that there are some lapses in our EIAs and they are not independent studies.
I believe that the Government should take measures to address sensitive environmental issues without targeting profits and votes for the next elections. The Government also needs to implement a system to hold all stakeholders, including experts who carried out EIAs, accountable for their studies.
In Sri Lanka, any political party coming into power does not have much concern about the environment or impacts of ill-planned development projects as they are aware that most of them would hold office only for a four- to five-year term. During their stint in power, they plan development projects in an ad-hoc manner aiming at political benefits.
If Sri Lanka is genuinely concerned about achieving the SDGs by 2030, the Government needs to consider this matter seriously. If the Government is serious enough and takes action against polluters to hold them accountable, we also can save our rivers from heavy metal contamination.
Q: What are your views on the Rathupaswala incident? How can a country solve such water conflicts in the future?
As an academic, I stressed on the necessity of a multidisciplinary/trans-disciplinary research study to scrutinise such hydro-social complexities. The Rathupaswala incident was a politicalised issue in water quality governance in Sri Lanka. This incident highlighted the lack of coordination between public and private sectors on water quality and the limited space for civil society in environmental governance in Sri Lanka. Public hearing committees should be established at Local Government level and the Local Government entities should be able to handle their natural resources management. That is why Sri Lanka needs meaningful administrative and power decentralisation.
Q: You mentioned diverting water from the Iranamadu tank to the north, which still remains as a proposal. Could you expand on this?
The Iranamadu Irrigation Development Project is a timely important water management project that enables the people in the Northern Province to access enough water. This project could be a positive approach towards poverty reduction and more social empowerment in the north. Sri Lanka needs such a water management plan that could be a part of the National Water Policy which is currently unavailable. However, the sustainability of such a mega project will depend on maintenance and support from civil society.
