Environmental evaluation of accelerated Mahaweli development program : lessons learned and donor opportunities for improved assistance

This study assesses the present status of the Mahaweli River Basin in light of these efforts. Section Two describes the ecology and socioeconomy of the Basin and briefly describes the ten projects comprising the AMDP. Section Three, the heart of the study, summarizes, in light of the TAMS study and the EAP, the principal adverse environmental impacts of AMDP. These impacts are ranked according to their severity and their environmental and financial costs and benefits, and categorized as to whether they principally affect the watershed or lower basin agricultural, wildlife, or socioeconomic systems. Impacts cutting across all categories are also discussed. Also summarized are the limited data available to quantify or qualify the magnitude of these impacts. Section Four synthesizes lessons learned regarding the environmental management of the Mahaweli River and indicates elements of an updated environmental action strategy for the Mahaweli watershed.