Heenbanda was overwhelmed. Today was different from his usual toil in the paddy field. This morning he chose to travel to Peradeniya, Central Sri Lanka, approximately 75 kilometers away from his remote village to attend what the gentlemen called a ‘stakeholder dialogue’. ‘Big words’ he thought. Wide eyed and expectant nevertheless, Heenbanda took his seat with 15 other village representatives to attend the Landscapes for People Food and Nature Initiative (LPFN) Landscape Dialogue.
There were many people in the hall, most were his countrymen, some white skinned, some spoke foreign languages, and some with television cameras. When it was his turn to introduce himself, Heenbanda stood up nervously, cleared his throat and said “My name is Heenbanda, I am a farmer in Udukumbura, I do paddy and Chena (shifting cultivation) cultivation. I humbly request you gentlemen and ladies to kindly provide me with PVC pipes and a water pump.”
Heenbanda explains the needs of smallholders during the Sri Lanka landscape dialogue. Photo by Miuru Jayaweera/CGIAR WLE.
For most villagers with nothing but pipes and pumps in mind, The Capacity Building Learning Dialogue on Integrated Landscape Management was a bit far from their reality. The group discussed the adverse effects of climate change on agricultural productivity, impending drought, and food imports. Technical presentations were given on the sustainability of the Kandyan home garden, tank and cascade systems. Measures to mitigate the harmful weather patterns were considered, and a myriad of information on promoting agrobiodiversity for adaptation and resilience was disseminated. Finally, international experience and valuable knowledge on integrated landscape approaches exchanged hands.
“The villagers here today might be feeling at sea because of the richness of information discussed. However it is very important that they participate in these forums as fellow stakeholders. There will soon come a time that they will benefit from it, although it’s not instantly perceptible,” Dr. D.K. N.G. Pushpakumara, country liaison scientist for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) said.
Dr. Pushpakumara’s ‘soon’ came the next day when the LPFN representatives along with representatives of Bioversity International and EcoAgriculture Partners visited Heenbanda’s rural village. Sri Lankan government representatives, representatives of domestic and international non-governmental organizations, researchers, the media and farmers gathered in the village temple in a bid to drive home the messages discussed the previous day in a more practical manner.
A google map of Udukumbura was projected in the temple common hall. Villagers were asked to identify landmarks familiar to each of them. It was no surprise when the youngest of the clan stood up to point out Maha Oya, the major water stream running through the village. They were given scorecards where their knowledge was tested on their landscapes, ecosystem services and agrobiodiversity. Awareness was built on the areas they lacked specific and general knowledge on. Villagers were provided with new information on strategies for growing crops while conserving nature and fulfilling nutrition needs.
Women look at a satellite image of their village and its surrounding landscape. Photo by Miuru Jayaweera/WLE.
It was here that Heenbanda learned the meaning of the word “landscape” for the first time. He understood that the term encompasses his natural surroundings including the forests that border his village, streams, lakes and tanks that provide the water for his harvests, the valleys and hilly mountains that he inhabits, the soil that nourishes his crops, insects and other living organisms that could be advantageous and disadvantageous to his produce, weather patterns that dominate his area and his fellow villagers who call the area their home.
He also came to understand that food production, when done without considering these other factors, misses out on the benefits that the ecosystems offer naturally; benefits that have proven to be critical to facing challenges such as climate change and drought.
“Integrated landscapes management is a three-legged stool” said Raffaela Kozar, Senior Manager Landscape Management and Capacity Development, EcoAgriculture Partners. “Biodiversity and ecosystems conservation, local livelihood security and sustainable agricultural production play individually critical roles for holding up the stool.”
Raffaela Kozar discusses the landscape approach with the participants in the dialogue. Photo by Miuru Jayaweera/WLE.
The women, many with children in tow, and the youth of Udukumbura participated in the discussion, bringing in their daily farming experiences and exploring agrobiodiversity options that could sustain their livelihoods while adapting to climate change and drastic weather patterns.
Dr. Danny Hunter, Senior Scientist and Global Project Coordinator for the Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition (BFN) Project explained how nutrition can be addressed by proper landscape management. “Incorporating healthy biodiversity aspects in to food systems can address the threat of non-communicable diseases and obesity in the community,” Dr. Hunter explained.
During the LPFN Landscapes Dialogue, participants discussed the key areas that need to be addressed for the success of the landscape approach. One critical point, is the role of the national media in transferring scientific and technical knowledge from the researcher to the farmer in comprehensible methods and lingo. More communication activities based on adapting tools and building a platform where villagers can share their experiences on individual landscape management strategies (knowledge sharing) also plays a vital role. Overall, the attitude to ‘change’ and the need for national policy revisions that go beyond political and individual agendas towards a commitment to collective action on the grassroots level were cited as most significant future actions.
For Heenbanda and and others in Udukumbura the meeting was an eye-opener. They realized that there is much more to consider than PVC pipes and water pumps to guarantee the well-being of everyone concerned.
The Capacity Building Learning Dialogue on Integrated Landscape Management was co-organized in Sri Lanka by Green Movement of Sri Lanka, EcoAgriculture Partners, Biodiversity Secretariat of the Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy, Sri Lanka, Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition (BFN) and Biodiversity for Adaptation to Climate Change (BACC) with participation by Bioversity International, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and CGIAR Research Program for Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE). All photos courtesy of the CGIAR’s Water, Land and Ecosystems Program. View a complete photo album of the two days of the Dialogue. Miuru Jayaweera is a science communicator and storyteller based in Sri Lanka with the CGIAR’s Water, Land and Ecosystems Program and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
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