Shared control of resources [SCOR] under natural resources and environmental policy project

The purpose of SCOR is to link sustainable use of natural resource conservation with new tenure rights on agricultural and forest lands. The evaluation covered the period 3/93-3/95. SCOR has made a very good beginning, thanks to an excellent TA team from the International Irrigation Management Institute (IIMI) and a remarkable set of project-generated teams and steering committees, composed of representatives from key Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) agencies, who address policy questions and guide local governments" participation in the project. Good work has been done in both pilot watersheds in organizing Resource User Groups and establishing excellent examples of appropriate, simple conservation practices on farms and forests lands. Specifically, SCOR has helped to form 165 Resource User Groups, made up of over 2,600 farmers, who are undertaking 33 different types of conservation-related production activities such as conservation farming, timber and multi-use tree planting on leased government lands, improved homestead gardens, and improved management of steep tea lands. Phase I targets have already been met or exceeded. Watershed resource management teams, made up of local government and farmer group representatives, meet regularly to plan improved use of irrigation water and upland resource use on a watershed level. On a broader level, provincial and national steering committees are adopting SCOR resource use planning concepts and have already implemented some policy changes increasing farmers" tenure rights, including lengthening land lease periods, regularizing encroachment land with user permits, and creating "tree-tenure" contracts for rights to tree products from forestry buffer zones. In sum, SCOR has demonstrated its capacity to have significant impact on natural resources practice and policy, rural income generation, and the democratization of resource use planning in Sri Lanka. Its work is rapidly gaining recognition as an effective approach to problems of natural resource degradation and declining agricultural productivity on government-controlled lands. The Asia Development Bank, among others, is already analyzing SCOR"s work as a model for government agencies to expand to other watersheds. While SCOR"s rapid implementation has created considerable enthusiasm in the GOSL, the project"s policy contribution during Phase II can be strengthened. (1) An understandable tendency to assess SCOR"s worth by number of hectares covered may distract attention from tasks such as action research, development of replicable models, policy reform, and acceptance of creative approaches to increasing land tenure security. (2) Controversy surrounding the alienation of public lands may unduly slow SCOR"s otherwise considerable progress in finding creative ways to increase farmers" land tenure rights. A SCOR-sponsored national workshop might increase awareness of the interdependence of these issues. Extension of the project and rigorous cost-benefit analysis of its conservation technologies are also urged.