Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Sri Lanka: a political ecology of socio-environmental conflicts and development projects

  • Special Feature: Case Report
  • The EJAtlas: Ecological Distribution Conflicts as Forces for Sustainability
  • Published:
Sustainability Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

By analyzing 26 cases in the EJ Atlas for Sri Lanka, their causes, the impacts, the social actors involved, the forms of mobilization, and the main outcomes of the conflicts, this article examines in what ways activities aiming at economic growth produce socio-environmental conflicts. Such activities increase the social metabolism causing changes that translate into environmental, social, and health impacts which due to inequality of power are unequally distributed. As a result, those who are negatively impacted sometimes mobilize claiming environmental justice. The mining of construction materials to support the boom in the building sector and the expansion of intensive plantations into ‘extraction frontiers’ in new territories, cause deforestation, biodiversity loss, and hurt the local communities. Tourism and industries and new infrastructures are causing displacement, pollution, land degradation, and water shortage, affecting communities of farmers and fishermen that mobilize against the adverse impacts. Those with power to appropriate the natural resources are mostly the state together with international finance institutions and international actors who are able to implement the construction of infrastructures, plantations, and mass tourism. Mobilizations are mostly geared to the protection of livelihoods threatened by loss of access to land, pollution, deforestation, diseases, water scarcity, and new uncertain risks. The protection of the environment demanded by the mobilized groups in Sri Lanka does not aim just to protect nature itself but belongs to a wider movement of an “environmentalism of the poor”.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+
from $39.99 /Month
  • Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
  • Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
  • Cancel anytime
View plans

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Source: UNEP 2016

Fig. 2

Source: UNEP 2016

Fig. 3

Source: UNEP 2016

Fig. 4

Source: UNEP 2016

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, books and news in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

Notes

  1. A development program begun in the 1970s for irrigation facilities and the generation of electric power (Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment 2016).

References

  • Akhmat G, Zaman K (2013) Nuclear energy consumption, commercial energy consumption and economic growth in south Asia: Bootstrap panel causality test. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 25:552–559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anguelovski I, Martinez-Alier J (2014) The “environmentalism of the poor” revisited: territory and place in disconnected glocal struggles’. Ecol Econ 102:167–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ariyadasa L (2011) Current status of the energy situation in Sri Lanka. http://s3.amazonaws.com/zanran_storage/sa-energy.net/ContentPages/2469379621.pdf. Accessed 13 Dec 2016

  • Bohle HG, Funfgeld H (2007) The political ecology of violence in Eastern Sri Lanka. Dev Change 38(4):665–687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryant RL, Bailey S (1997) Third world political ecology: an introduction. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullard R (2002) Just sustainabilities: development in an unequal world, edited by Agyeman J, Bullard RD, Evans B. Earthscan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Central Bank of Sri Lanka (2015) Recent economic developments highlights of 2015 and prospects for 2016. http://www.cbsl.gov.lk/pics_n_docs/10_pub/_docs/efr/recent_economic_development/RED2015/Red2015e/5_Chapter_03e.pdf. Accessed 6 Sept 2016

  • Colombo Gazette (2016) SC informed coal power plant will not be in Sampur. http://colombogazette.com/2016/09/13/sc-informed-coal-power-plant-will-not-be-in-sampur/. Accessed 4 Jan 2017

  • Conde M (2014) Activism mobilising science. Ecol Econ 105:67–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del Bene D, Scheidel A, Temper L (2018) More dams, more violence? A global analysis of resistance, repression and violence around dams. Sustain Sci (this feature)

  • Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka (2006) Brief analysis of population and housing characteristics population and housing censuses in Sri Lanka. http://www.statistics.gov.lk/pophousat/pdf/p7%20population%20and%20housing%20text-11-12-06.pdf. Accessed 13 Sep 2016

  • Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka (2015) Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2012/13. (ISBN 978-955-577-857-2)

  • Escobar A (2006) Difference and Conflict in the Struggle Over Natural Resources: a political ecology framework. Development 49:6–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faber D, McCarthy D (2003) Neo-liberalism, globalization and the struggle for ecological democracy: linking sustainability and environmental justice. In: Agyeman J, Bullard R, Evans B (eds) Just Sustainabilities Development in an Unequal World, Earthscan (London)

  • Gerber JF (2011) Conflicts over industrial tree plantations in the South: Who, how and why? Glob Environ Change 21(1):165–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez CG (2013) Environmental justice and international environmental law. In: Alam S, Bhuiyan JH, Chowdhury TMR, Techera EJ (eds) Routledge handbook of international environmental law. Routledge, New York, pp 77–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Guha R, Martinez-Alier J (1997) Varieties of environmentalism: Essays north and south. Earthscan Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Guneratne A (2010) From big game to biodiversity. In: Gellner DN (ed) Varieties of activist experience: civil society in south Asia. SAGE Publications India Pvt, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornborg A (1998) Towards an ecological theory of unequal exchange: Articulating world system theory and ecological economics. Ecol Econ 25(1):127–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hornborg A (2009) Zero-Sum world: Challenges in conceptualizing environmental load displacement and ecologically unequal exchange in the world-system. Int J Comp Sociol 50(3–4):237–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Human Rights Watch (2016) Sri Lanka events of 2015. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2016/country-chapters/sri-lanka. Accessed 1 Oct 2017

  • Knoema (2011a) Sri Lanka - agricultural area & arable land - agricultural area. https://knoema.com/atlas/Sri-Lanka/topics/Land-Use/Agricultural-area-and-arable-land/Agricultural-area. Accessed 7 Sep 2016

  • Knoema (2011b) Sri Lanka—road network. https://knoema.com/atlas/Sri-Lanka/Road-network. Accessed 7 Sep 2016

  • Knoema (2011c) Sri Lanka - total energy - primary energy consumption. https://knoema.com/atlas/Sri-Lanka/topics/Energy/Total-Energy/Primary-Energy-Consumption. Accessed 6 Sep 2016

  • Kothari A (2014) Radical ecological democracy: A path for India and beyond. Development 57(1):36–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krausmann F, Gingrich S, Eisenmenger N, Erb KH, Haberl H, Fischer-Kowalski M (2009) Growth in global materials use, GDP and population during the 20th century. Ecol Econ 68(10):2696–2705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuo CS (2013) The mineral industry of Sri Lanka. http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2012/myb3-2012-ce.pdf. Accessed 11 Dec 2016

  • Mahees MTM (2010) Environmental movements in Sri Lanka. VDM, Germany

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Alier J (1995) Distributional issues in ecological economics. Rev Soc Econ 53(4):511–528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Alier J (2002) The environmentalism of the poor: A study of ecological conflicts and valuation. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Alier J, O’Connor M (1996) Ecological and economic distribution conflicts. In: Costanza R, Martinez-Alier J, Segura O (eds) Getting down to earth: practical applications of ecological economics. Island Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Alier J, Kallis G, Veuthey S, Walter M, Temper (2010) Social metabolism, ecological distribution conflicts, and valuation languages. Ecol Econ 70(2):153–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Alier J, Temper L, Del Bene D, Scheidel A (2016a) Is there a global environmental justice movement? J Peasant Stud 43(3):731–755

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Alier J, Demaria F, Temper L, Walter M (2016b) Changing social metabolism and environmental conflicts in India and South America. J Polit Ecol 23:467–491

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendis DLO (2001) Pugwash, environment and conflict—a Sri Lankan perspective. In: Rotblat J (Ed.) The Long Roads to Peace. In: Proceedings of the Forty-Eighth Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs Jurica, Mexico, 29 September–4 October 1998. London: World Scientific

  • Ministry of Finance and Planning, Department of National Planning (2006) Mahinda Chintana: vision for a new Sri Lanka. A ten year horizon development framework 2006–2016. Discussion Paper. http://www.thegef.org/sites/default/files/ncsa-documents/MahindaChintanaTenYearDevelopmentPlan.pdf. Accessed 2016

  • Ministry Of Finance Sri Lanka (2016) Annual Report 2015. http://www.treasury.gov.lk/documents/10181/12870/2015/68f51df3-5465-4805-ab6f-4a024ec672f6?version=1.1. Accessed 6 Sep 2016

  • Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment (2016) Mahaweli authority of Sri Lanka. http://mahaweli.gov.lk/en/complete.html. Accessed: 6 Sep 2016

  • Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs, Department of Census and Statisrics, Sri Lanka (2015) National account for Sri Lanka. http://www.statistics.gov.lk/national_accounts/dcsna_r2/reports/press_note_2015q2_english.pdf. Accessed 6 Sep 2016

  • Moore JW (2000) Sugar and the expansion of the early modern world-economy: commodity frontiers, ecological transformation, and industrialization. Review (Fernand Braudel Center) 23(3):409–433

    Google Scholar 

  • Muradian R, Walter M, Martinez-Alier J (2012) Hegemonic transitions and global shifts in social metabolism: Implications for resource-rich countries. Introduction to the special section. Glob Environ Change 22 (2012):553–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nadarajah S, Sentas V (2013) The politics of state crime and resistance: self-determination in Sri Lanka. In Stanley E, McCulloch J (eds) State crime and resistance. Routledge

  • Navas G, Mingorría S, Aguilar-González B (2018) Violence and resistance: An analysis of 95 Environmental conflicts in Central America. Sustain Sci (this feature)

  • Nixon R (2011) Slow violence and the environmentalism of the poor. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Oxford Business Group (2016) The report: Sri Lanka 2016. Oxford Business Group, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Perera P (2014) The Political Economy of Post War Economic Development in Sri Lanka. Int J Business Soc Res 04(12):43–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Rincón M, Vargas-Morales J, Crespo-Marín Z (2017) Trends in social metabolism and environmental conflicts in four Andean countries from 1970 to 2013. Sustain Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0510-9

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins P (2011) Political ecology: a critical introduction, 2nd edn. Wiley-Blackwell, Malden

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs W, Santarius T (2007) Fair future: resource conflicts, security and global justice: a report of the Wuppertal institute for climate, environment and energy. Zed Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Santiapillai C, Wijeyamohan S, Bandara G, Athurupana R, Dissanayake N, Read B (2010) An assessment of the human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. Ceylon J Sci (Biol Sci) 39(1):21–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheidel A, Temper L, Demaria F (2017) Ecological distribution conflicts as forces for sustainability: an overview and conceptual framework. Sustain Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0519-0

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlosberg D (2007) Defining environmental justice: Theories, movements, and nature. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Senananayake SGJN (2006) Indigenous knowledge as a key to sustainable development. J Agric Sci 2(1):87–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Sikor T, Newell P (2014) Globalizing environmental justice? Geoforum 54:151–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh SJ, Eisenmenger N (2010) How unequal is international trade? an ecological perspective using material flow accounting (MFA). Journal fur Entwicklungspolitik XXVI 4:57–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundarji PR (2015) Sri Lanka the new country. Harper Collins, Noida, UP

    Google Scholar 

  • Temper L, Del Bene D, Martinez-Alier J (2015) Mapping the frontiers and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas. J Polit Ecol 22:255–278

    Google Scholar 

  • Temper L, Walter M, Rodriguez I, Kothari A, Turhan E (2018) A radical perspective on transformations to sustainability: resistances, movements, alternatives

  • Teran Mantovani E (2017) Inside and beyond the Petro-State frontiers: geography of environmental conflicts in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution. Sustain Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-017-0520-7

    Google Scholar 

  • Transparency International Sri Lanka (2014). Sri Lanka Governance Report 2012/13. [online] Colombo: Transparency International Sri Lanka. http://www.tisrilanka.org/pub/reports/GOV_201213.pdf. Accessed 10 Sep 2016

  • UNDP (2017) About Sri Lanka. http://www.lk.undp.org/content/srilanka/en/home/countryinfo.html. Accessed 1 Oct 2017

  • UNEP (2009) Judges and environmental law—a hanbook for the Sri Lankan Judiciary. Environmental Foundation Limited, Colombo

    Google Scholar 

  • UNEP (2016) UNEPLive. http://uneplive.unep.org/country/data/LK#charts. Accessed 4 Jan 2017

  • Venugopal R (2015) Democracy, development and the executive presidency in Sri Lanka. Third World Q 36(4):670–690

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walter M, Urkidi L (2015) Community mining consultations in Latin America (2002–2012): the contested emergence of a hybrid institution for participation. Geoforum 84:265–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wijerathna D (2014) Beyond the millennium development goals: regionally inclusive economic growth for lasting peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka. Discussion papers, economics. Griffith University, Brisbane

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2017) Sri Lanka Overview. http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/srilanka/overview. Accessed 26 Sep 2017

Download references

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on a dissertation for the MSc in Environment, Policy and Development at SOAS (London) in 2016 which relied on information organized by the author and provided in 2015 by the CEJ Sri Lanka while she was working as an intern at ICTA-UAB in Barcelona for the EJ Atlas. She would like to thank Hemantha Withanage from CEJ and Daniela Del Bene and Arnim Scheidel from the ICTA-UAB for the assistance provided in collecting and revising the information. Moreover, she would like to thank Professor Joan Martinez-Alier and Professor Rosaleen Duffy for many careful revisions and comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SOAS, London, UK

    Paola Bianca Camisani

Authors
  1. Paola Bianca Camisani
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paola Bianca Camisani.

Additional information

Handled by Federico Demaria, icta uab, Spain.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Camisani, P.B. Sri Lanka: a political ecology of socio-environmental conflicts and development projects. Sustain Sci 13, 693–707 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0544-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0544-7

Keywords