Power, politics and policy in the appropriation of urban wetlands: the critical case of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Little is known about the drivers and governance strategies of appropriation of urban nature in the global south. We compare urban land-grabbing in the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka, with broader understanding of rural land-grabbing in the developing world. We show that the colonial legacy of appropriation and alteration of urban wetlands in Colombo has attained new heights in the neo-liberal period. This cyclical process has caused acute irreversible damage to the wetland ecosystem and a vast majority of the urban poor, with the marginalised continuing to suffer dispossession and environmental hazard. In recognition of the inherent limitations of 'uncontrollable' hybrid ecologies, potent social struggles have emerged to resist the continued appropriation agenda. As this cycle is perpetuated, broader social struggles for democratic urban governance have overtaken the pursuit of narrow politicaleconomic goals and internal policy reform.

Perceived barriers and facilitators of physical activity in adults living in activity-friendly urban environments: A qualitative study in Sri Lanka

“…Sri Lanka, a country in South Asia has introduced PA-friendly urban planning improvements in its major cities since 2012 [ 15 , 16 ]. Despite the modifications, physical inactivity has increased from 15.6% in 2003 to 28.9% by 2016 [ 4 , 17 ], reflecting a rapidly expanding public health problem among urban-dwellers in Sri Lanka [ 17 , 18 ].…”

Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future: Insights from Pondicherry, South India

“…Fourth, like other works on USA and European wetlands (Hollander, 2005;Mathevet, 2004), this study highlights how the construction of a place as "natural" or "key resource" impacts its use, conservation and management. The recent change of the terms in use to designate the area from "Ousteri or Oussudu tank" to "Oussudu Lake" illustrates the shift in perception of the water body and its associated uses; over the last decade the lake has transitioned into a peri-urban green space and "wild place" used for recreation and bird watching, like other lakes in India (D'Souza and Nagendra, 2011), Sri Lanka (Hettiarachchi et al, 2019) or Europe (Salizzoni et al, 2020). Overall, it can be said that the power over natural resources of this wetland moved from Public Work Department and farmers to the Forest and Tourism Departments, as we have gradually moved over time from a vision of "lake for farmers and natural resource's users" to a "lake for biodiversity and tourists", which is presently dominating.…”

“…The current development of urban areas is a major worldwide concern for wetland conservation and wise use. While the theme of 2018 World Wetland Day was "wetland for sustainable urban future", the social-ecological trajectory of Oussudu Lake may highlight typical governance issues faced by ISSN: 2581-6853 Doi: https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.03045 suburban wetlands in South Asia (Hettiarachchi et al, 2019), China (Lee, 2014), Africa (Matamanda et al, 2018), Europe (Miho, 2018;Salizzoni et al, 2020) and USA (Moore et al, 2003). This paper presents first a brief description of the implemented method and the social-ecological context of the case study.…”

Sufficiency of the Policies Related to Construction Industry in Sri Lanka

“…Several researchers have discussed the role of government policies and their effects (Taofeeq, Adeleke and Hassan, 2019;Taofeeq, Adeleke and Lee, 2020), and policy changes (Wong, 2019;Xiaopeng and Pheng, 2013) in the global context, while there are a few studies on the importance of government policies (Hettiarachchi, Morrison and McAlpine, 2019) and policy gaps that deter sustainable construction (Jayalath and Perera, 2019) in the Sri Lankan context. However, there is a dearth of literature on the sufficiency of the policies related to the construction industry in Sri Lanka.…”