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Economic Value of an Ancient Small Tank Cascade System in Sri Lanka

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... Despite the renewed focus, the question of whether the cost of restoring STCS pays off has not been answered until the doctoral thesis Economic Value of an Ancient Small Tank Irrigation System in Sri Lanka (Vidanage 2019) was undertaken. The case study presented in this chapter was prepared based on the latter and other related work (Vidanage et al. 2005;Vidanage 2017;Dissanayake et al. 2018Dissanayake et al. , 2019. ...
... The payment coefficient was negative as expected, indicating that the effect on the utility of opting for a choice set with a Fig. 13.4 On-site and off-site sampling sites. Source: Vidanage (2019) higher payment level is negative. The positive sign and the statistical significance of the ASC coefficient imply that the utility is higher for the improved alternatives over the status quo. ...
... In contrast, respondents in the off-site sample placed the attribute other uses of cascades as the highest marginal willingness to pay with an estimated value of LKR 17,995 per family per season, followed by biodiversity with LKR 8921 per season 11,721,881 22,344,282 35,553,062 5,384,937 75,004,161 Labour contribution 774,208 1,548,416 2,064,555 774,208 5,161,387 DAD contribution 1,172,188 2,234,428 3,555,306 538,494 7,500,416 Total cost (70% restoration) 13,668,277 26,127,126 41,172,922 6,697,639 87,665,964 Full restoration cost 19,526,109 37,324,466 58,818,461 9,568,055 125,237 Source: Vidanage (2019) per family, paddy with LKR 8234 per season per family, and ecology with LKR 4000 per season per family. The order and absolute values of marginal willingness to pay for cascade-related attributes differ between the two samples. ...
Chapter
Small tank cascade systems (STCS) are clusters of hydrologically interconnected irrigation reservoirs with a 2500-year history located in the dryzones of Sri Lanka. They provide irrigation to 40 per cent of the irrigable land and a host of other benefits. The maintenance of STCS was neglected historically partly due to the low recognition of their true value. We highlight how choice experiment surveys and extended benefit-cost analysis can be used to elicit the full value of conducting environmental restoration projects with application to STCS. Respondents have a positive willingness to pay for the restoration (over LKR 78 million for the onsite sample). The cost-benefit analysis proves that cascade restoration is justified.
... It is in this context that both the governmental as well as several international agencies have come forward to undertake minor irrigation tank rehabilitation during the last few decades (Aheeyar, 2013;Plan Sri Lanka, 2012). However, in addition to giving their labour for restoration as in-kind contribution, a recent study by Vidanage (2019) estimated the local community's willingness to pay for restoration and sustainable management of the Pihimbiyagollawa STCS where the non-market values of STCS were estimated using the Choice Experiment method (Table 15.1). These values were subsequently used in an extended cost benefit analysis that determined that the ecological restoration and sustainable management of the STCS are financially justified. ...
... This has also contributed towards the economic feasibility of STCS restoration. Findings of Vidanage (2019) indicate that there will be greater interest in reviving these systems for their multiple benefits including their climate change adaptation ability for small scale farming communities in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka. ...
Chapter
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Small tank cascade systems (STCS) are part of Sri Lanka’s hydraulic civilization. These systems interconnected small man-made reservoirs which capture seasonal rainwater for agricultureAgriculture, householdHouseholds, and environmental purposes are considered the lifeblood of communities in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka. These time-tested drought and floodFloodmitigationMitigation systems are now increasingly being seen as excellent community resilienceCommunity resileince systems for adaptationAdaptation to climate changeClimate-Change in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka. Somewhat neglected by the authorities, the systems are now being revived, and restoration of degraded STCS is being recognised as a viable option for adaptationAdaptation in the National Action Plan for Climate Change AdaptationClimate change adaptation in Sri Lanka as well as articulated as adaptation actions in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris AgreementParis Agreement, The. This chapter brings out the unique features of these systems and discusses how the systems have been helpful in addressing drought and floodFloodmitigationMitigation historically; in building climate changeClimate-Change resilience in small-scale farmingFarming communities in the Dry Zone in the present context in; how they were managed over time and what future they hold in climate change adaptationClimate change adaptation planning in the country.
... This capacity shortfall is particularly problematic because food production in many of the SESs found in developing countries is projected to be at risk as a result of future global environmental changes [60,61,67,68]. Figure 5 illustrates a significant increase in publications related to VTCSs in 2021 and 2023, suggesting that this surge may result from the dissemination of doctoral research findings and global financial support aiming to develop knowledge products in this field [18,[69][70][71][72]. ...
Article
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Research on social–ecological systems is rapidly expanding globally in response to human-induced climate change, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation. Safeguarding these traditional agroecosystems is vital according to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In the last decade, there has been a growing research interest in the Village Tank Cascade Systems (VTCSs) of Sri Lanka, recognised as social–ecological systems. However, few studies have systematically analysed VTCS research in Sri Lanka. To examine this apparent knowledge gap in more detail, a bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping were conducted to systematically analyse and interpret the state, trends, clusters, and emerging fields of VTCS research. In total, 159 peer-reviewed research publications between 1985 and 2023 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus databases, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate to perform this analysis. Furthermore, this study employed the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems (SAFA) tool, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, to map the inclusion of sustainability and productivity dimensions in VTCS research, in alignment with the objectives set forth by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The study provides insight into dominant and neglected areas of future VTCS research.
... Some of the ESs associated with VTCSs have been identified and economically valued. Provisioning ESs are largely recognised at present, while other ESs-regulating, supporting and cultural services of the VTCSs-have not been adequately assessed and are mostly ignored [14][15][16][17][18]. ...
Article
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Village Tank Cascade System (VTCS) landscapes in the dry zone of Sri Lanka provide multiple ecosystem services (ESs) and benefits to local communities, sustaining the productivity of their land use systems (LUSs). However, there is a lack of adequate scientific research on the ESs of LUSs, despite the recent land use changes that have greatly impacted the provisioning of ESs. Collection of baseline ESs data is a pre-requisite for decision making on ESs-based ecological restoration and management of the VTCS. Thus, this study aimed at assessing ESs of the Mahakanumulla VTCS (MVTCS) located in the Anuradhapura district of Sri Lanka by using a participatory approach involving the integration of local knowledge, expert judgements and LUSs attribute data to assess the ESs. The methodology was designed to integrate the biodiversity and land degradation status of LUSs in a way that is directly linked with the supply of ESs. The study identified twenty-four ESs of the MVTCS based on community perceptions. The identified ESs were assessed as a function of LUSs to develop an ecosystem service supply (ESS) and demand (ESD) matrix model. The results reveal that the current overall ESD for regulating and supporting ESs is higher than the ESS capacity of MVTCS. The assessment also revealed that land degradation and biodiversity deterioration reduce the capacity to provide ESs. Downstream LUSs of the meso-catchment were found to be more vulnerable to degradation and insufficient to provide ESs. Further, the study established that ESs in the MVTCS are generated through direct species-based and biophysical-based providers. In addition, it emerged that social and cultural engagements also played an important role in association with both providers to generate certain types of ESs. Therefore, it can be concluded that VTCS ecological restoration depends on the extent to which integrated effort addresses the levels of ecological complexity, as well as the social engagement of communities and stakeholders. The results of this study provide a scientific basis that can inform future land use decision making and practices that are applicable to successful ESs-based ecological restoration and management of the VTCSs in the dry zone of Sri Lanka.
Article
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The use of stated preference methods with monetary payments in developing countries can be problematic as barter and paying with labor are common in rural areas. In response, a growing number of stated preference studies explore using monetary and nonmonetary payment options. We contribute to this literature by exploring the impact of monetary vs. labor payment options on values elicited from choice experiment studies conducted in rural developing country settings. We also contribute to the literature by comparing data-gathering methods, specifically individual surveys vs. group information sessions. Our application is the restoration of an ancient irrigation system known as cascading tank systems in Sri Lanka. We conduct a choice experiment to understand the willingness to pay/willingness to contribute of rural households to restore these irrigation systems. We find that in the individual survey setting, there are no significant differences between monetary and labor payments. We also find that there is no difference between the group and individual survey settings for the monetary payment treatment. For the labor payment treatment, the group setting results in a positive payment coefficient for the labor payment attribute. This highlights that labor payments should be used cautiously in group evaluation settings.
Book
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The study quantifies the benefits associated with tank goods and services, and underlines their high economic and livelihood value to local communities. It also looks at the economic returns to different options for restoring and maintaining the traditional tank system. These results reveal that removing silt and rehabilitation of tank reservation is the most feasible option, which could improve the services, provided for a longer period of time and give the highest economic return.
Book
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The role of economics in managing the natural resources, and the environment in which they are found, has been gaining increased recognition and acceptance among policy makers. The development of environmental valuation techniques is one of the key factors which promoted the acceptance of the role of neo-classical economics in better management of the environment. However, developing countries are somewhat behind in using economic principles for environmental management compared to developed countries. Building the capacity to conduct environmental valuation studies in developing countries is a key step when it comes to using economic principles for environmental management. The lack of affordable textbooks in environmental valuation, with a developing country orientation, is one of the major constraints faced by developing countries. This book is intended to fill this gap for Sri Lankan students. The targeted audience of the book is advanced Masters and beginning Ph.D students. Practitioners of environmental valuation will also find this book useful in conducting state of the art valuation studies. The book is recommended for Masters or beginning Ph.D. courses offered in the South Asian region. In the past, many economists have viewed valuation studies with skepticism. This is especially the case when it comes to stated preference techniques. One of the reasons for this skepticism is bad practice. Understanding the welfare economics foundation and application of rigorous quantitative analysis are two important ways of improving the credibility of valuation studies. The book emphasizes these two aspects. It contains all the valuation techniques as well as a number of case studies. The case studies are intended to provide hands-on experience in the use of valuation studies. One of the original objectives of the book was to assess the suitability of different valuation techniques for developing countries. This objective has been only partially achieved due to imperfect knowledge on the subject. There is a lack of environmental valuation textbooks, targeted for advanced Maters students, in the international market. This book, however, is not yet ready for the international market. My intention is to revise the book with a complete set of case studies and then publish it for the international market. Until the next edition of the book is released, this edition will serve as a textbook mainly for local students and, to a limited extents, for students in the South Asian region.
Conference Paper
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This paper reviews the institutional reforms taken place in minor irrigation systems in Sri Lanka by contrasting those observed during pre-colonial and colonial periods with those after the independence. Formal or informal institutions have governed the operation and performance of the minor irrigation systems with continuous change of authority. While the earlier reforms focused on the irrigation sector with quicker benefits and lower political risks, recent reforms have covered macro institutions, where the benefits are gradual with high political risks. In ancient irrigation system management, decision making and implementation were taken by communities themselves under the feudal system of " Rajakariya " ensuring sustainability and maintaining village ecosystem. With the abolishing of " Rajakariya " system after the arrival of British rulers, the authority was shifted from the community to the government along with the trend of irrigation system management towards centralization and bureaucracy. After independence, though the minor irrigation system management was the responsibility of beneficiary farmers, the authority of the systems was continuously changed between different government agencies. Now, minor irrigation systems are governed by the Department of Agrarian Development and/ or Provincial councils towards sustainability goals while emphasizing the different stakeholder involvement through enforcement of formal and informal rules and procedures. The government continues the commitment to reform because it provides evidence for the political and economic stability, tactical benefits, timely consideration of stakeholders' perception and information towards the required change. stakeholders; systems; irrigation minor reforms;
Article
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When a community becomes unstable in living environment the people are vulnerable to sudden physical, social and economical stresses. Small tank village communities are hence more affected by recurrent droughts than many other communities as their sustainable living environment has disappeared during last few decades. Agricultural potential has severely declined in this environment due to low fertility of farming lands, water shortage, poverty, tank sedimentation, high tank water losses etc. Further, it has been observed that rehabilitation and development programs carried out in these villages have not brought anticipated impacts on the economy and living standard of the people. Most pronounced reason for this failure is that no cognizance was taken from their deep rooted customs and traditional wisdom for planning present development activities. In the traditional system agriculture had been manipulated to absorb any weather vagaries by shifting the cultivation time and selecting cultivation practices. Traditional communities made every attempt to conserve soil, water, and natural habitat. Food security was one of the in-built aspects of their culture. Use of groundwater for agriculture was never practised by them, and it assured the water security. There was a broad diversity in flora and fauna. Sharing resources equally and the equity of ownership were the most striking features of their culture, which led to build up a peaceful and sustainable rural society. Environmental pollution had never been an issue for them to bother. With the disappearance of these features the whole system was subjected to deteriorate socially, physically and economically making the community vulnerable to disasters. The paper discusses some strategies to rehabilitate the system through adoption of most appropriate approaches such as physical resource conservation, restoration of ecologically important features, tank storage improvement, strengthening institutional mechanism, attitudinal changes etc. to bring back the sustainability, which evade the poverty and vulnerability of the small tank community to natural disasters.
Article
The ancient irrigation system that prevailed in Sri Lanka has been subjected to deep technical investigations. But such investigations in economic terms have not been evaluated, basically due to the lack of information. This paper, tries to develop a plausible methodology to generate revenue from irrigation works, as well as to investigate the potential of such methodology to act as a regulating measure of the demand for for water. Chronicles and inscriptional evidences were evaluated to establish the ownership of the irrigation works and types of payments and revenues associated with each party. In previous studies, types of revenues were identified as dakapathi, payment to the state in the form of a tax and the bojakapathi, payment to the supplier of water. The application of this payment scheme to a reservoir cascade system determined the rived overall revenue equation. This equation was again analyzed applying the technical restraints and it was proved that water rates could have been used for the sustainable operation of the cascade system.
Article
We provide a user guide on the analysis of data (including best-worst and best-best data) generated from discrete-choice experiments (DCEs), comprising a theoretical review of the main choice models followed by practical advice on estimation and post-estimation. We also provide a review of standard software. In providing this guide, we endeavour to not only provide guidance on choice modelling but to do so in a way that provides a 'way in' for researchers to the practicalities of data analysis. We argue that choice of modelling approach depends on the research questions, study design and constraints in terms of quality/quantity of data and that decisions made in relation to analysis of choice data are often interdependent rather than sequential. Given the core theory and estimation of choice models is common across settings, we expect the theoretical and practical content of this paper to be useful to researchers not only within but also beyond health economics.
Thesis
This study examined adaptation decisions of village tank farmers in Sri Lanka, focusing on how commonly held beliefs on local rainfall influence their adaptation choices. Findings suggest that farmers’ have shared beliefs consistent with local pattern of rainfall variability that help to explain short-, medium- and long-term decisions of adaptation.
Article
Water conservation in small and medium sized tanks for agriculture in the dry and semi-dry zones of Sri Lanka has been the principle method of providing water for rice cultivation in these regions from the early historic period. However, experiences and observations during the last several decades show that agriculture under the minor tank system has not been very productive. At present, minor tank water supply appears to be very unstable and the irrigation potential seems to be very low. Tanks with catchment sizes more than 9 ha per hectare metre of tank storage are found to have more stable water supply than those tanks with a lower ratio of catchment to storage capacity. Agricultural production under minor tank irrigation has a very high degree of year to year variation. The cropping intensities are low and production is most unstable in areas of high tank densities; every year, a high proportion of the irrigated land remains unutilized; and there is an urgent need to improve the management of tank water supplies.
Thesis
This thesis consists of a portfolio of research papers examining key contemporary technical, methodological and policy issues on the use of non-market valuation in environmental decision-making. The introductory chapter provides a short discussion of the structure and general aims of the thesis. The rest of the thesis is divided into two parts. Part A (consisting of Chapters 2,3, and 4) contributes to the literature on the analysis and design of the two most commonly used stated preference methods, Contingent Valuation (CV) and Choice Modelling (CM). Chapter 2 examines the impacts of using alternative opt-out formats in CM studies, Chapter 3 presents a latent segmentation model as an alternative means of accounting for preference heterogeneity in discrete choice random utility models, while Chapter 4 introduces a generalised limited dependent variable modelling approach to account for non-trivial number of zero responses in open-ended type willingness to pay CV data. Part B (consisting of Chapters 5 and 6) contributes to the literature on the role of stated preferences in environmental policy and legal decisionmaking. Chapter 5 uses the CV method to examine the nature of wildlife values in the face of the ongoing policy debate between ex situ and in situ conservation. Lastly Chapter 6 seeks to assess the US experience with using non-market valuation in courts with the aim of providing suggestions as European legislators formulate the direction of the new EU environmental liability regime.