Solving Post Conflict State Lands Issues In The North-East
In January 2013 the Government issued a new circular titled Accelerated Programme on Solving Post Conflict State Lands Issues in the Northern and Eastern Provinces- Land Circular 2013/01 (herein referred to as the Circular), which is the most recent effort by the Government to address land problems in the North and East. The Circular sets out a process to be implemented over two years to identify and address problems relating to State land in these two provinces. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has prepared this short note to highlight key issues and concerns relating to this Circular and its implications if implemented.
CPA has engaged in research and advocacy on land rights and related issues for over a decade, documenting developments and providing recommendations on land and related issues both in terms of the war and the tsunami. In the post-war context, CPA has critiqued and advocated for reform in the existing legal, policy and administrative structures, including with regards to the previous Land Circular (2011/4), so that problems on the ground and grievances of affected communities are addressed.
Read the report here
Sri Lanka Is Still Not Prepared For Tackling Climate Change Issues
By W.A. Wijewardena -March 12, 2013
Dr W.A. Wijewardena
Maurice Strong: Godfather of climate change issues
Ever since the man credited to be the godfather of the global climate change issues, Maurice Strong, founding Director of United Nations Environment Programme or UNEP, started to talk about these issues in early 1970s, it became the hot topic at many international forums. Strong, together with Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos, submitted a report titled “Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet” to the UN Conference on Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 and that was the first report on the state of the global environment or at least the doomsday predicted for environment. In an interview with BBC in the same year, he reconfirmed his doomsday prediction for earth which according to him was mainly due to the short-sighted actions of the mankind (available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YCatox0Lxo ). Since then, climate change issues have been globalised and he had supporters as well as opponents. His critics condemned him for being a ‘malevolent force’ to destroy the earth rather than a crusader to save it. The reference here is to the enormous power which the climate change campaign he initiated had gathered over the years among the global leaders making it the single most important global issue today. While the causes of climate change are due to the actions of the people at large all over the globe, its adverse consequences are felt mostly by people living in individual countries. Sri Lanka being a country sitting at the receiving end has to concern itself about the likely consequences of the predicted changes in the climate over the years. To facilitate Sri Lanka to do so, the Institute of Policy Studies or IPS has discussed the major climate change issues facing Sri Lanka in its newest publication titled “Climate Change Issues in Sri Lanka”.
Global warming claims despite mini ice ages Read More
