Environmental assessment of the Rambukkan Oya development project

to strengthen the idigenous capabilities of LDC"s to appreciate and evaluate the potential environmental effects of proposed development projects ... " and (2) " ... to ensure that the environmental consequences of proposed AID-financed activities are identified by AID and the host country ...." Environmental concerns are defined in terms of specific project activities and affected environmental systems. Methods used to make assessments of the significance of environmental impact are discussed. Recommendations are made for project changes, future study, and program development aimed at both impact mitigation and the development of local capacity for analysis and impact evaluation. The Rambukkan Oya Development Project involves development of intensive, year-round irrigated agriculture in an area of 12,700 acres which will be supplied with water stored in three reservoir tanks. Two types of environmental change are involved. The first is the physical change associated with construction of works such as tanks, irrigation ways and roadways, as well as with land use changes such as land clearing and agricultural development. The second type of change is the continuing input of the resident human population. This input varies with changes in the environment and altered socioeconomic conditions. Adverse impacts on public health, soils and agricultural practices, water, flora and fauna, energy, stream flows, and agricultural runoff are considered. Recommendations emphasize the interrelationships between regional environmental systems, different regional land uses, and the proposed project area land use.