How and Why the Land Resources Changed: A Chronological Change of Land Use and Land Cover in Sri Lanka

Introduction

The land comprises a range of biophysical components and subjected to various effects and also land in its natural condition undergoes regular rejuvenation. The range of biophysical components embedded in the landscape is used for different purposes. Thus land use (LU) has become one of the main concerns of many disciplines. Though the topic is debatable among researchers, academics, and scientists much have been contributed to ‘LU’ rather than ‘preservation or restoration of the land’ (Mather, 1986). Its principles are mostly those of economics and ecology, but it is the product of human decisions operating within social, political, and legal frameworks. Land is classified among basic natural resource, and in classical economics (Abegunawardhana & Senarathne, 2002), the land is considered as one of the three factors of production along with capital and labour. Throughout human history, man has drawn most of his sustenance and fuel, clothing, and shelter from the land. The land has been man’s living space and key resource to avoid hunger. Therefore the use of land should have been of key consideration to man is not surprising. What is more surprising is the man’s attachment to the land and his persisting concern for it into the industrial and post-industrial ages. In the developed countries man has been detached from the land. His food comes from the supermarkets rather than directly from the soil. Much of his clothing is of synthetic fiber. In place of firewood, he uses fossil fuels from deep below the land surface. Days, weeks, or months may pass when his only landscape is townscape. Yet the man is still concerned about the use of the land from which he has become largely separated. A man who may be living in the city would have a general concern for the use of both rural and urban land. The use of more natural resources invariable evokes concern, but the use of land seems to stand out in attracting special attention. No clear identification between man and land is expressed than in the Hebrew language; man is Adam and land is Adama (Mather, 1986).

The term LU refers to human activities associated with a specific piece of land, whereas Land Cover (LC) relates to the type of features present on the surface of the earth. Furthermore, both LU/LC are synonymous in the scientific community. LU/LC are two ways of observing the earth’s surface. LC Land cover is a feature that can be used in different disciplines (geography, ecology, geology, forestry, land policy, and planning, etc.) as a geographical reference (e.g., for land-use, climatic or ecological studies). In modern geographic databases, due to its relatively easy spatialization, LC has become a sort of “boundary object” between different disciplines. In more detail, the LC consists of physical characteristics of the earth’s surface with relation to the distribution of vegetation, water, soil, and other physical features. LU is how the land has been utilized by humans and their habitats such as agriculture, settlements, industry (Kaul and Sopan, 2012). Burns & Hart (1970) have observed: Land as an object, tends to produce benefit, gives a social advantage, pleasure, happiness…..to the party whose interest is considered. These non-materials are mostly based on personal objectives. Thus, non-personal objectives differ from personal objectives. In that aspect, the objectives of land may be an economic, social, or cultural phenomenon. These phenomena may spatially and temporally vary in a country like Sri Lanka. LU has changed over time and is changing in the country under different perspectives.

This chapter begins with an introduction to the background of Sri Lanka and then moves to the LU/LC pattern of Sri Lanka, focusing on LU/LC changes during the colonial period. Then the attention has been drawn to the post-independence period highlighting the changes of LU/LC with the introduction of liberalized economic policies. The final concern gave on planning and sustainable developments are decisive measures of LU management in Sri Lanka.