{"id":98226,"date":"2020-01-24T16:41:52","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T23:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98226"},"modified":"2020-01-24T16:43:10","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T23:43:10","slug":"us-funded-mcc-silence-on-vital-environmental-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/24\/us-funded-mcc-silence-on-vital-environmental-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"US funded MCC \u2013 silence on vital environmental issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

B<\/em>y<\/span>\u00a0 Chandre Dharmawardana<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

(This article is\u00a0 also to appeared in the Island Newspaper January 23, 2020)

The so-called\u00a0 Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC)\u00a0 of USA\u00a0 proposes to grant nearly half a billion dollars to Sri Lanka’s development. Sri Lanka has already received\u00a0 over\u00a0 2.5 billion in Chinese aid, and this is a US initiative to counter China’s outreach. However, while Chinese aid\u00a0 is much less intrusive, US aid is feared for a variety of reasons by many observers. In contrast, the Ranil-Sirisena government, an ally of the West\u00a0 was ready to approve the MCC as well as other US proposals for the facilitation of visits by US troops into the island. A US-paid Sri Lankan ex-diplomat as\u00a0 an adviser\u201d, retained by the speaker Jayasuriya and\u00a0 unprecedented in parliamentary practice clouded the issue further.\u00a0 The MCC proposes, among other things, to improve infrastructure and simplify\u00a0 recorded legal\u00a0 land ownership making land easily marketable and usable\u00a0 for development\u201d. A strategic\u00a0 example of MCC’s\u00a0 infrastructure proposals included a\u00a0 fast highway linking Colombo to Gokanna (Trincomalee), with
alleged special legal privileges to US troops.


Thamara Kunanayagam, an ex-diplomat critical of the West\u00a0 viewed the\u00a0 MCC to be incompatible with international law and Lanka’s sovereignty. Others claimed it\u00a0 a direct land grab by the USA,\u00a0 now evacuating its military base in Diago Gracia, and looking for rotating footholds\u00a0 for its troops. Dr. Asoka Bandarage, a US-based academic sees it in continuity with previous colonial takeovers but seems less negative towards\u00a0 it.\u00a0 Many feared that outright rejection of the MCC may sour US-SL relations very adversely. Hence the\u00a0 new\u00a0 government under Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has appointed a committee to review the MCC grant, while\u00a0 stating that\u00a0 the parliament will not\u00a0 ratify any agreements that are detrimental to the country\u201d, without defining what is detrimental\u201d.

Here we\u00a0 focus on a number of vital issues that previous commentators had not touched.\u00a0\u00a0 Even if all political and\u00a0 sovereignty issues were ironed out,\u00a0\u00a0 it does not mean that the proposed infrastructure and development\u201d is going to be beneficial to Sri Lanka, as old-style development based on Chicago Economics of competition and opening up\u00a0 to free markets\u201d cannot be expected to help small countries like Sri Lanka.

So, as a learned committee is examining the “pros and cons” of the MCC,\u00a0 changes to the existing MCC to make it useful to Sri Lanka may be possible.

Sri Lanka\u00a0 has suffered\u00a0 enormous onslaughts on its natural habitat due to several factors. (a) The rapid rise in population since the 1920s and particularly after world war II, and the conversion of land to housing. (b) The programs based on agricultural expansion, clearing of forests,\u00a0\u00a0 implementing massive irrigation schemes and resettling the southern demographic bulge in the recolonized\u201d dry zone\u00a0 freed from Malaria. While people have eloquently criticized\u00a0 the conversion of the mountains to plantations\u00a0 by the Colonials, this touched less than 2% of the land mass, while modern schemes, employing modern equipment and dynamite had pushed the forest cover in Sri Lanka down to 32%. or less.

Today, conflicts between wild life\u00a0 and people, encroachment of marauding monkeys into habitations, rapid drop of pollinating insects like wild\u00a0 bees and wasps\u00a0 etc., are all too common. That they are a consequence of loss of natural habitat is rarely admitted. It is far easier to find some other excuse, say, argro-chemicals, underhand activities by\u00a0 Tamil terrorists or Muslims with Arab funding, decline in morals and the consequent wrath of gods, are all simple explanations acceptable to the public and many politicians. They become the clarion call for taking control\u201d and returning to the traditional pastoral way of life\u201d to solve all problems. This picture involves the resurrection of the old Gama-Weva-Temple or Kovil\u201d (GWT) concept, ignoring that GWT implies an enormous assault on\u00a0 nature\u00a0 and fails for today’s demographics. \u00a0

In stark contrast, and with equal error, the MCC wants to facilitate capitalist exploitation of the land where it is claimed that\u00a0 living standards will go up as global investments flow in! The actual failure\u00a0 of such policies is seen in Haiti and Nigeria! \u00a0

What will happen if ownership, be it private land, state land or\u00a0 marine floor\u00a0 where oil, gas or minerals are\u00a0 suspected to be present, were\u00a0 made available for sale to any investor\u201d, with only the criteria of global capitalism (i.e., the bottom line of the share holder living in the Emirates, New York or Singapore) ?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0

The committee looking into the MCC proposals must establish mechanisms to evaluate every sale of land\u00a0 for its proposed use,\u00a0 habitat encroachment, carbon footprint and so on. If land is acquired for biomass energy generation, such applications can be ecologically positive, while\u00a0 building\u00a0 tourist resorts and\u00a0 tourist infrastructure like roads,\u00a0 clubs, swimming pools etc., produce\u00a0 unsustainable development\u201d.\u00a0 The rural population gets converted into waiters, cooks, drivers\u00a0 and pimps serving the whims of the tourist. Checks and\u00a0 balances are\u00a0 needed.

If the MCC\u00a0 facilitates\u00a0 politicians who invoke the GWT concept to build\u00a0 slews of match-box houses sprawling over an area where village thickets or pristine forests have\u00a0 been\u00a0 bulldozed, or where low-lying marshes and bogs have been drained, then legislation must be include to prevent such development\u201d. Since land rights are distributed between the central government and local governments, over-arching legislation is needed to apply at every level. The best solution is to transfer approval of land transactions to a national authority if foreign investors are involved.

The infra-structure proposed by the MCC seems to favour\u00a0 highways rather than fast electric trains geared to public transport.\u00a0 The latter is\u00a0 the most optimal developmental tool. Highways or trainways must have at least a kilometer of elevated track for every 10 km so that pedestrians, local traffic,\u00a0 animals, insects, spores and even underground root systems can pass across. This ensures that fast highways do not divide the ecosystem, and animals have linked wilderness corridors of passage. This ensures not only ecological integrity, but also the socio-political integrity of the country.

The proposed Colombo-Gokanna highway will not be a veritable division of the country into\u00a0 northern and southern sections if there are ecological underpasses for each 10km interval.\u00a0 we already have a rail line connecting Colombo through Polgahawela, Maho and Galoya\u00a0 to Gokanna. The new route should be developed along the old route, to run fast bullet trains\u201d,\u00a0 instead of opening up virgin land and adding to the incessant assault on\u00a0 natural habitat. Such development programs\u201d have\u00a0 huge carbon foot prints and affect bio-diversity.\u00a0 All this can be reduced if no new land is opened up.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0

The MCC is\u00a0 silent on the energy\u00a0 bottleneck\u00a0 asphyxiating Sri Lanka’s development. The\u00a0 CEB mafia\u201d is alleged\u00a0 to be one factor. Even though the President\u00a0 may have appointed Viyathmaga\u201d, or Eliya\u201d etc., it is no secret that government high ups rely on their personal confidantes who point the way to proceed\u201d. How can we understand why the government is\u00a0 likely to approve more coal power for\u00a0 Sri Lanka? It is\u00a0 committing\u00a0 to a very costly long-haul\u00a0 at a time when alternative energy sources have already become not only competitive, but cheaper and healthier\u00a0 than fossil fuels.\u00a0\u00a0 The MCC, by pushing highway development, follows the traditional developmental template destined to\u00a0 collapse due to lack of firm power. All developmental schemes must\u00a0 integrate their milestones\u201d\u00a0 with the projected power generation milestones. The committee that is looking into the MCC must ask if this holistic essential has been addressed.


Unfortunately, most development programs\u201d usually written WITHOUT\u00a0 integration with energy policy are mere routes to create disaster. Disaster and collapse in small economies are attractive opportunities for global capitalism because\u00a0 deep pockets\u00a0 can purchase valuable assets at fire sale prices when disaster happens. The MCC will facilitate all that unless correctives are included.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0 Chandre Dharmawardana (This article is\u00a0 also to appeared in the Island Newspaper January 23, 2020) The so-called\u00a0 Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC)\u00a0 of USA\u00a0 proposes to grant nearly half a billion dollars to Sri Lanka’s development. Sri Lanka has already received\u00a0 over\u00a0 2.5 billion in Chinese aid, and this is a US initiative to counter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chandre-dharmawardana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}