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Sustainability of Village Tank Cascade Systems of Sri Lanka: Exploring cascade anatomy and socio-ecological nexus for ecological restoration planning

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Title Sustainability of Village Tank Cascade Systems of Sri Lanka: Exploring cascade anatomy and socio-ecological nexus for ecological restoration planning
 
Creator Ratnayake, Sujith
Kumar, Lalit
Dharmasena, Punchi
Kadupitiya, Harsha
Kariyawasam, Champika
Hunter, Danny
 
Subject waterfalls
restoration
water management
freshwater resources
ecological production
ecological control
salto de agua
producción ecológica
restauración
 
Description Village Tank Cascade Systems (VTCSs) in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka have evolved as sustainable ecosystems through human interventions to ensure water availability and other services for people and their environs during the last few millennia. However, VTCSs are vulnerable to global environmental changes resulting in continual deterioration of ecological health and hydro-socio-ecological status, crucial for the food and livelihood security of rural farming communities in the dry zone. This paper seeks to explore resource systems of the Mahakanumulla VTCS located in Anuradhapura district of Sri Lanka to (i) identify the spatial metrics linked to the sustainability and socio-ecological resilience of the VTCS, and (ii) determine interactions among system elements and their impacts on productivity and restoration challenges. The spatial analysis was conducted using a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), recent digital topographic map layers and Google Earth images to understand the spatial distribution and ensemble of tank environs. Participatory field assessment data were also used to determine socio-ecological nexus and factors that contribute to the reduction of ecological productivity of VTCS. The study revealed that the ensemble of tank environs is significant for providing regulatory and supporting ecosystem services (ES) and synergistic relationships with provisional ES of the VTCS. Results also revealed that the complex land-water-biodiversity-climate and food nexus that determines the productivity of the VTCS could be adopted in VTCS ecological restoration planning. The study presents a comprehensive framework to analyse causal factors and processes leading to reduction of overall productivity linked with variables of socio-ecological properties, vulnerability and resilience of the VTCS landscape.
 
Date 2021-09-23
2021-09-23T10:56:00Z
2021-09-23T10:56:00Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Ratnayake, S.; Kumar, L.; Dharmasena, P.; Kadupitiya, H.; Kariyawasam, C.; Hunter, D. (2021) Sustainability of Village Tank Cascade Systems of Sri Lanka: Exploring cascade anatomy and socio-ecological nexus for ecological restoration planning. Challenges 12(2), 24. ISSN: 2078-1547
2078-1547
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/115121
https://doi.org/10.3390/challe12020024
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-4.0
Open Access
 
Format 25 p.
application/pdf
 
Publisher MDPI AG
 
Source Challenges