I appreciate your comment on the impending crisis in food production that we face as a consequence of increasing energy prices with changing climatic and temperature regimes. We do have to think of a radical shift from annual to perennial crops. However, the misery that humanity will face will come more from the market dictating the flow of food, much more than the non-availability of food. The Irish Potato Famine of the late 1840s, which killed nearly one-eighth of the entire population, while Ireland exported food, in order not to disturb the market, is an example.

I am in total agreement with your statement that “we in Sri Lanka should revert back to tried-and-tested food production systems such as agroforestry or other integrated approaches.” For some global action please see http://www.analogforestrynetwork.org.

I agree with the thrust of your article and I believe we also need to urgently factor climate change into the equation if we are to better prepare ourselves for the future.

Here is the challenge: 1) anticipated global population of 9 billion people by 2050; 2) to feed the additional anticipated 3 billion we need to increase current food production by over 50% (including reduction of post-harvest losses); 3) currently 60 – 70% of global caloric intake comes from cereals; and 4) most cereal crops are at their heat tolerance threshold including rice and wheat.

The minimum anticipated temperature increase is 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 (IPCC). Much of the high yielding cereal crop varieties will not be able to survive under those temperatures (especially heat during the flowering period – 1 hour above 30 degrees Celsius makes rice pollen sterile [IRRI]).

In other words, we are looking at a potential catastrophic collapse of the global agricultural system. This is in fact a further argument for a shift from the high input, large-scale, mono-culture plantation model to a more diverse agricultural model that supports the production of a diverse mix of crops including perennials.

This will not only help buffer against climate change impacts but also begin to provide people with a more diverse caloric intake. The BIG question however is whether these alternative agricultural systems will be able to produce the necessary volume of food to meet the anticipated population come 2050. While we ponder the BIG question at the global level, we in Sri Lanka should revert back to tried-and-tested food production systems such as agroforestry or other integrated approaches.

http://cpalanka.org/media-monitoring-report-march-2011-reportage-of-llrc%E2%80%99s-hearings-in-puttalam-and-mannar/
”There was however reportage on the hearings in both locations. Interestingly, the Tamil media reported on testimony given in Colombo as well as that which was given in Puttalam and Mannar, unlike Sinhala media which was focussed solely on Colombo.”

Cuba still does it today, it is a recipe for disaster.

Ethnic majority: De-globalisation : Ethnic Minorities: De-centralisation

You hit a nail on its head !! 🙂

People want De-centralisation

People do not want to live in cages under constant threat from the military and para-military
They do want to be given handouts when their freedom to till their own lands and earn their own livelihoods are being deliberately curtailed by the Govt. People want to be free.

Population, pollution, soil erosion, … are all on the increase all over the world. Here riverbeds and seashores have been increasingly the source of sand for building work. Sand has even been imported for the purpose. In these circumstances, how can anyone go on building Buddha stupas everywhere in the Northeast(and elsewhere) and sports complexes in the Northeast as exchange for votes?

One can either follow the basic(biological, chemical, physical, geological) processes of nature to make good decisions for the survival of the society or follow the Eight-fold path:

Wisdom
1. Right View
2. Right Intention
Ethical conduct
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
Mental development
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

As if the government is not doing enough to go down the slope, the Defence Ministry forced the Higher Education Ministry to conduct a compulsory ”leadership” course all of a sudden to make sure that the youth stay on the downward path.

For 63 yrs we’ve had no true leaders. When are we going to get one who can think beyond the tip of their nose?

http://www.slbc.lk/index.php/component/content/article/1-latest-news/7272-construction-work-of-kilinochchi-international-sport-complex-begins-today-
Construction work of Kilinochchi international sport complex begins today. 20 July 2011

”Development and progress, are words that we are very familiar with, and rightly so. As a nation all our hopes and aspirations are centre around the promises attendant on this processes. However, recently there have been some questions on the values of “development” and as in every controversial issue the battle lines have been drawn. The combatants are, as is usual in these affairs, mostly from developed countries and the people of developing countries more often than not, are mere witnesses to these esoteric exchanges.”

Very much applicable to what the President has been saying from May 2009: ”There is no ethnic conflict. Tamils want only economic development” and what has been happening to the Northeast in the last two years: Presidential Task Force for Northern Development and the provincial council governors have been ”operating” and the people in the Northeast have been witnesses:

1. Sports stadia by the dozen

2. http://www.thestar.com/news/world/dalailama/article/880196–amid-sri-lanka-s-boom-life-for-tamils-remains-bleak
Amid Sri Lanka’s boom, life for Tamils remains bleak, Rick Westhead, 23 October 2010:
‘’… In 2008, the governor nixed a new law that would have introduced motor vehicle licensing fees, a venture that could have raised as much as 1 billion rupees ($100 million) a year for the province, said Dr. K. Vigneswaran, a former member of Sri Lanka’s parliament who is now an adviser to Pillayan. More recently, the governor killed an effort to pass a bill that would have allowed the provincial government to formally collect contributions from the Sri Lankan diaspora.”

3. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123333480794533919.html
Peter Wonacott interviewed Pillayan, Jan 2009:” I am of the view that law and order and development of the region should be brought under the purview of the provincial council. Only then can we carry out the development activities the way we want to. We should have the power to collect taxes from our people and expend that money for their betterment. …. There are obstacles in obtaining foreign investments, too. The central government allocates to us only the funds that are given specifically for the purpose of developing North and East by foreign governments. It does not share other foreign funds with us.’’

4. http://www.llrc.lk/images/stories/docs/Harim%20Peiris.pdf
Submission by Harim Peiris to LLRC, 7 October 2010:
”The frustrations experienced by the elected Chief Minister of the Eastern Province – incidentally an ethnic Tamil, in relation to the unelected Governor – incidentally a retired Sinhala Military Officer should not be allowed to be repeated in the North, if devolution is to be meaningful, and indeed such issues should be resolved, in the East.”

”Do we really need these high fossil energy systems? It may be we do, but the dangers to the country should be carefully evaluated. It may be wise to examine gift horses”:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14229631
Building a new life after the war in Sri Lank, 21 July 2011

http://www.slbc.lk/index.php/component/content/article/1-latest-news/7272-construction-work-of-kilinochchi-international-sport-complex-begins-today-
Construction work of Kilinochchi international sport complex begins today. 20 July 2011

R.Sampanthan, MP, addresses the parliament on 5 July 2011:
” Kinniya Seven Hot Wells: Tamils and Hindus, not merelyfrom Trincomalee, from even other places come there and perform their 31st day rites for several centuries. I, from the time I was a little boyas a little boy have been there several times to perform these rites. Now, that whole place is being disturbed unfortunately by a monk from a close-by temple who wants to exploit the seven hot wells for economic purposes. The seven hot wells provide excellent opportunity for economic exploitation and he is disturbing that area. I have written to the Hon. Basil Rohana Rajapaksa, Senior Adviser to the President, in regard to that matter on the 20th of July 2009. I am tabling a copy of that letter and I would request that that be included in Hansard at the end of my speech. ……….. There is a move to hand over over 3,000 acres of land as a sacred area for the Thiriyai Buddhist Vihara.”