Managing Arid Areas and Sand Dunes in Sri Lanka - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 335

not respected. As a result, some over lapping and duplication of activities may
take place. These constraints must be overcome through proper consultation and
participation of relevant stakeholders during the formulation process.
At the individual level, high-level officers should have the ability and skills to
conceptualize and prepare policies/legislation/strategies and programs. However,
many of the high level officers may not have the skills in the preparation and writing
of projects proposals and programs. Their capacity constraints could be overcome
by providing proper training, by improving necessary skills, by improving their
awareness about the land degradation problem and by changing their attitudes.
Even though there are number of policies, laws, strategies and programs, these
are not fully implemented. One of the main reasons for this situation is the improper
mobilization and management of human and physical resources by the central
government institutions and local government institutions. The lack of co-operation
between the central and provincial governments in implementing policies and pro-
grams etc. is yet another factor that adversely affects and hampers implementation.
Furthermore, there is no political interest or political will to combat land degradation
in Sri Lanka. This also negatively impacts on the implementation of policies, plans
and programs. Changes in subject areas, portfolios and ministries, relevant focal
agencies, and decisions making high-ranking officers etc. also adversely affect on
the planned programs and projects/policies.
Although implementation is the prime responsibility of institutions, there are
institutional problems in implementing policies, laws, strategies and programs.
The new Land Use , Soil and Water Conservation Act should be implemented
immediately. The draft Land Use Policy should be revised to include the provisions
to combat land degradation issues in Sri Lanka. Once the Cabinet approves the
Land Use Policy, it should also be adopted immediately. Negligence on the part
of some agencies who control over the limited natural resources have to be
identified and actions taken to implement effectively the provisions in the existing
policies, legislations and strategies. Inadequate human and physical resources and
the inability to mobilize them is a major capacity constraint at the institutional level.
There are no immediate impacts/effects from soil conservation activities to the
end users of lands such as rural farmers and the community in general at the
individual level. As a result, there are problems in implementing the policies,
strategies and legislation at the grass root level. These problems could be identified
as the underlying causes or capacity constraints that prevent the implementation
of the activities of CCD. Other underlying causes that prevent the implementation
of CCD at the individual level are the attitudes and the lack of awareness on land
degradation issues, the lack of knowledge and accessibility to new technologies
and farming systems, low priority given to soil conservation, treating land as an
unlimited resource, land ownership/tenure and the fragmentation of lands. These
underlying causes can also be identified as capacity constraints at the individual
level. Creating awareness and changing the attitudes of farmers could be the solution
to overcome the constraints.