Abstract
Cascading Tank Village Systems (CTVSs) of Sri Lanka historically provided a resilient community-based social-ecological water management system in the rural dry zone of Sri Lanka After being abandoned for many centuries, their restoration is now being pursued by different national and international actors as a key to climate change mitigation and sustainable livelihoods for communities. Rural livelihoods in the dry zone are at risk due to multiple factors, poor access and management of water, economic and health pressures, as well as resource limitations and degradation. Despite recent efforts to restore CTVS systems, no social-ecological approach (SES) nor a sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF)-focused approach to ensuring resilient and sustainable livelihood outcomes has been taken. As part of an on-going PhD project, this paper analyses the background, current challenges and potential for an SES focused resilience thinking approach to CTVS for future sustainable livelihood opportunities and outcomes. The study finds CTVS exhibit all the properties of a complex adaptive SES and that a resilience thinking approach centred on achieving sustainable livelihood outcomes for communities suggests deep institutional changes are needed. CTVS are at a crossroads between restoring the past (system adaptability) or transforming for the future, and a combination of legacy and future market orientation seems the best solution.
Highlights
Cascading Tank Village Systems (CTVSs) of Sri Lanka historically provided a resilient community-based social-ecological water management system in the rural dry zone of Sri Lanka After being abandoned for many centuries, their restoration is being pursued by different national and international actors as a key to climate change mitigation and sustainable livelihoods for communities
The CTVS has been described as the ‘lifeblood’ of communities in the rural dry zone and as a globally important Agricultural Heritage System by the UN Food and Agriculture Association (FAO) [3]
The package included 10 principles, which as we show below overlap with recent resilience thinking principles [17], including (1) keep control over limited water available during extremely dry seasons, (2) adopt risk evading farming, (3) utilise the environment ensuring its sustainability, (4) live with minimum needs and in the simplest way, (5) harvest rainwater and store for future use, (6) work as a team, (7) store excess grains for future use, (8) be independent of external interventions, (9) protect the knowledge for a future generation and
Summary
Cascading Tank Village Systems (CTVSs) of Sri Lanka historically provided a resilient community-based social-ecological water management system in the rural dry zone of Sri Lanka After being abandoned for many centuries, their restoration is being pursued by different national and international actors as a key to climate change mitigation and sustainable livelihoods for communities. Despite recent efforts to restore CTVS systems, no social-ecological approach (SES) nor a sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF)-focused approach to ensuring resilient and sustainable livelihood outcomes has been taken. As part of an on-going PhD project, this paper analyses the background, current challenges and potential for an SES focused resilience thinking approach to CTVS for future sustainable livelihood opportunities and outcomes. The Casacading Tank Village Systems (CTVS) in Sri Lanka constitute one example of many indigenous approaches globally to ensuring water storage and livelihood options for communities [1]. A number of international agencies are funding their restoration together with other stakeholders [4] in light of numerous challenges for rural livelihoods [5]
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