The Urgent Need of a National Water Resources Policy
Sri Lanka is endowed with rich and sustainable water resources emanating from the central highlands. The island wide average of rainfall is about 1,900 mm, almost two and a half times more…
Author: Ranil Senanayake
The National Soil Question: Part 2
Read Part 1 here. The effect of clearing the forests and allowing erosion of the soil, especially on the mountain areas became obvious to scientists who visited this country. Dr. Strange, an…
The National Soil Question: Part 1
There are some very disturbing trends in the management of the land of this nation, that cries out for action, but who will hear the cry? We are ever ready to talk…
Towards an Informed Water Vision: Part 2
Through the nation water quality has become a serious problem. The Nitrate and Nitrite pollution of the groundwater on the Kalpitiya peninsula, the eutrophication of the hydroelectric reservoirs during low flow, the…
Towards an Informed Water Vision: Part 1
The three basic substances of our biosphere, Air, Water and Soil share the characteristic that they are all dynamic and vary in quality and quantity from place to place on this planet.…
The Green Revolution and Rio
It has been many years of writing in the Sri Lankan media of the stupidity of the so-called Green Revolution that successive governments in Sri Lanka aided by their ‘knowledgeable ‘ scientists…
The Price of Inequality
Evolution is the biological manifestation of development. Which, in action merely refers to a ‘gradual unfolding’ usually towards a state of greater complexity or stability. Evolution as a process of natural selection…
Is Sri Lanka’s Road to Rio +20 Paved with Lies?
March 12 1997 was a dark day when personal power was used to subjugate not only national laws but also to subvert the international environmental obligations of this nation. On this day,…
Where do we come from?
Photo by author The current controversy on the identity and significance of the series of mounds linking Rameshwaram in India with Mannar in Sri Lanka has attained international attention due to a…
A Vision for Our Nation
There is a vision of our land that has persisted over three millennia and is ingrained in the heart and soul of every citizen. A vision of a land, resplendent, beautiful, safe…
Oil, Coal, Gas and Carbon: Fundamental Truths From Indigenous Peoples
Indigenous people know the reality of fossil energy. The Shuar peoples of Amazonian Ecuador, under whose territories lie huge reserves of oil. Unlike those eager to find oil in their territories, have…
Desertification and Biodiversity
Photo courtesy NASA The link between land degradation and desertification has been made abundantly clear in studies conducted in Africa and Australia. A loss of natural vegetation, a loss in soil organic…
Of Symbols, Identity and Sovereignty: The Sri Lankan flag and us
A discussion. We Sinhalese are the people of the lion. Our flag represents us. Every point every line has a meaning. Look at the color of the flag it is red and…
The Loss of Identity: Development and Agriculture
The ecological impact of increasing energy input into a system has been well documented. In any ecosystem an increase in the flow of energy tends to organize and simplify that ecosystem, with…
Can Sri Lanka propose a New Growth Paradigm?
The discussion on ‘ Economic Development’ as a national goal, must demonstrate a perspective strongly rooted in modern science. However, the goals of today suggest that our appreciation of the scientific method…