Introduction

This chapter considers the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the governance of coastal ecosystems in Sri Lanka. Specifically, it asks whether in the wake of the tsunami (a rapid-onset natural hazard) the approach to governance of coastal ecosystems in Sri Lanka was adaptive and what changes occurred in governance institutions following this social–ecological shock. To tease out the facets of coastal ecosystem governance in Sri Lanka and to evaluate whether the tsunami created a space for change, field-based and desk-based data collection techniques, combined with qualitative and quantitative analysis, were employed. In Sri Lanka, 75% of an identified population of 122 stakeholders were sampled using semi-structured interviews, informal meetings and electronic correspondence. Additionally, 134 documents were collected and critically assessed, including national coastal policy documents, national action plans, legal documents, press releases, newspaper reports and documentation referring to individual coastal environmental initiatives (for example, marketing material, strategy reports, management plans and evaluation documents). A total of 40 pre-tsunami coastal environmental initiatives and 48 post-tsunami coastal environmental initiatives were identified and analysed.

Natural hazards and ecosystems

Increasing shares of the damage caused by natural hazards stem from ecologically destructive practices and from humans putting themselves in harm’s way. In some instances, ecosystems have been altered to such an extent that their resilience (that is, their ability to bounce back from disturbance) has been greatly diminished and they are no longer able to withstand natural disturbances (Abramovitz 2001). For example, chronic overfishing combined with declining water quality has made coral reefs, and therefore coastal communities, less resilient to cyclones and global warming (Adger et al. 2005), while deforestation has damaged watersheds, increased the risk of wild fires and worsened the negative impacts of storms, leading to landslides, flooding, silting and ground- and surface-water contamination (Susman et al. 1983, Abramovitz 2001, Derose et al. 2006, Srinivas and Nakagawa 2008).