Catchment Ecosystems and Village TankCascades in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka A Time-Tested System of Land and Water Resource Management

Abstract

An ancient irrigation technology based on natural drainage basins, namely, 'tank-cascade' systems, in a tropical monsoonal environment is analysed on the basis of available information. An attempt has been made to identify the causes that led th is system to persist over long periods of history. It is thought that some equilibrium of the cascade system with nature and the prevailing social organization that supported to maintain it, constituted the main raison d'etre. In this context, particular attention is drawn to the possible existence of a resource management system in which necessity for coordination of different components of the cascade was built into the system so that a self regulating mechanism became eventually I'stablished.