Earth_Island_Journal_-_Spring_2020

EARTH ISLAND JOURNAL • SPRING 2020 49

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of women’s empowerment, as well

as women-led planning and disaster

response, must be part of the solution

to this emerging issue.

T

HE SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT

recognizes that, in addition to

putting in place disaster management

measures, the country needs to urgently

implement climate mitigation and

adaptation initiatives, especially in the

agricultural and water-management

sector. It is pulling a leaf out of the

country’s ancient history, in this regard.

Over 2,000 years ago, Sri Lanka

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civilizations in the world. Its ancient

kings built a sophisticated network of

small tanks (surface water reservoirs

of varying sizes) connected by canals

to large reservoirs that collected and

redistributed water, replenished soils,

and balanced the needs of entire

ecosystems in its dry-zone areas, even

during water-scarce months. These

unique tank cascade systems, which

took advantage of the natural drain-

age matrix of the landscape, were

maintained by communities that

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such small tank systems still exist in the

dry zone, though many of them are in

disrepair.

Dissanayake, the former Secretary

to the Ministry of Mahaweli

Development and Environment, says

that the government is building canals

to supply these ancient tank systems

with water from the hill areas. By the

end of 2020, thousands of tanks are

expected to be restored. Part of the

funding for this work comes from the

Green Climate Fund (GCF), the center-

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Paris Agreement. The GCF and the Sri

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a $52 million project with smallholder

farmers in the dry zone. This project

aims to strengthen the resilience of

up to two million people to extreme

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by improving irrigation infrastructure,

expanding access to clean drinking

water, and investing in early weather-

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water management.

While essential, infrastructure

investments will only get Sri Lanka part

of the way. As the old ways are failing,

farmers have to open up to new ideas

as well, including making space for

women to take up leadership roles in

their households and villages.

Speaking to Udayanthi, Dinusha,

and all the other women left behind in

the villages, their ideas and aspirations

seem neither abstract nor unreasonable.

They could cultivate if they had a well,

they could sew if they had a machine,

they could start a business if they had

start-up capital. If women like them

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to bring positive change in their com-

munities. Enabling them to take on big-

ger roles in the village ecosystem could

be a key step toward a climate-resilient

and sustainable future.

Dennis Mombauer is a writer and

researcher of climate change impacts,

adaptation measures, sustainable develop-

ment, and coastal ecosystems. He lives in

Colombo, Sri Lanka.

A village tank in the North Central Province. Ancient Sri Lanka used to have a sophisticated network of tanks and canals that collected and

redistributed water and served the needs of dry zone areas even in water-scarce months. An effort is underway to revive many of them.