Researchers gathered and analysed data concerning land use and its impact to underpin their
policy recommendations. As a result, there is now a comprehensive collection of biological and
economic data and other dispersed material concerning the on-site and off-site effects of soil erosion in
Sri Lanka. These data include:
a GIS-based, detailed map of land degradation in the major Mahaweli catchment (the first map of its kind in the country);
the most up-to-date input/output table constructed for the Sri Lankan economy;
evidence relating to the effects of soil erosion off-site as well as on the yields and financial performances of various perennial and annual crops.
In addition, the researchers constructed a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model that explicitly takes account of both off-site and on-site consequences of soil erosion. This was a pioneering effort. IIn the researchers' opinion it is the first time that a CGE model anywhere in the world has been adapted satisfactorily to incorporate detailed bio-economic relationships pertaining to land degradation problems.
Much of the research data was published in the proceedings of a national policy forum and technical workshop held in Colombo in December 1997. The 600-page publication Economic policy reforms and the environment: Land degradation in Sri Lanka (A Chisholm, A Ekanayake & SK Jayasuriya eds, Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Plantation Industries and Parliamentary Affairs of Sri Lanka, Colombo: 1999) contains contributions from economists, scientists, engineers and public administrators. The topics cover land degradation and tea and rubber production, the impacts of land degradation on hydropower generation and road systems, and CGE modelling of economy-wide impacts. The publication continues to be the most comprehensive primary reference source on land degradation issues in Sri Lanka.
The project also had a significant postgraduate training component. Three Sri Lankan PhD candidates and one Masters candidate undertook research on various aspects of land degradation problems in Sri Lanka. All graduated from La Trobe University under the supervision of Professor Anthony Chisholm and Dr Sisira Jayasuriya. The Masters student has since completed a PhD at La Trobe. A further successful PhD candidate in economics at La Trobe returned to Sri Lanka in 2002 to take up a position with the Tea Research Institute.
Of the above five PhD graduates, three returned to Sri Lanka, one remained in Australia and one may return to Sri Lanka. Finally, a successful PhD candidate with the Food Research Institute, Stanford University, worked for six months under the auspices of the project. About four months were spent at La Trobe, under the supervision of the project leaders, and two months at the Institute of Policy Studies, Colombo. The outcome was a published paper on institutions (with particular application to land tenure and rural credit) and land degradation in the Sri Lankan hill country.
The Sri Lankan economy and people have endured a draining civil war for the past 20 years. In the first three and a half years of the 21st century, four Sri Lankan governments have held power. From 1995 to 2000, the main policy platform of the first government in power was liberalisation with a human face. Unemployment was maintained at a low level but the level of government spending, the budget deficit and inflation rate rose to high levels. The second government held power for only one year from 2001 to 2002 and essentially maintained a similar policy.
From January 2002 to April 2004, the over-riding goal of the third government was to curtail the budget deficit. It succeeded in reducing it from 10.5 to 7.8 per cent, and interest rates were reduced from around 18 to 8 per cent. The cut in government expenditure was severe and widespread. This government also adopted a pro-trade liberalisation stance and general trade liberalisation reforms were introduced in December 2003. In April 2004, the fourth government gained power, and based its activity around poverty alleviation (subsidy-based) with a leaning towards smallholder farmers producing agricultural and plantation crops. Government spending and the government budget deficit are likely to increase under the new government and it is less sympathetic to trade liberalisation reforms.
Land degradation happens slowly. Timing is not critical in the implementation of policy reforms to combat soil erosion. In the above economic and political setting, it would not be surprising to see a delay in implementation of policies to combat land degradation.