Understanding Why Conservation Matters for Sri Lanka – Part 2
Photo courtesy of UNDP
Forests play a crucial role far beyond simply absorbing water. For generations, people viewed them as sponges but we now understand they are sophisticated water management systems. Forests support plant growth, regulate climate, prevent soil erosion, cool the atmosphere, recycle moisture, replenish groundwater and supply water to entire ecosystems.
Yet despite recognising these benefits, global freshwater demand continues to rise. It is worsened by frequent droughts. This fragile situation grows even more perilous as water has increasingly become a commodity, treated as an economic asset rather than a fundamental human right. This shift prioritises profit over equitable access to water resources.
In Sri Lanka, water struggles have turned deadly. The 2013 Rathupaswala shooting incident stands as a stark reminder. Residents protested against a glove factory whose chemicals had made their well water acidic and undrinkable. When the military responded violently three people died, including two children. The factory was eventually moved and some victims compensated but the acquittal of military personnel involved raised serious accountability concerns.
More recently, the Mannar protests of 2024-2025 centred on environmental damage from proposed wind power projects and mineral sand mining. Local communities conducted peaceful demonstrations for 105 days, voicing fears about flooding and contamination of freshwater aquifers. After the president promised to review project impacts, protests were temporarily suspended although demands for permanent solutions remain unaddressed.
In both cases, communities mobilised to protect essential water resources and environmental integrity. They clashed with state authorities over development projects imposed without proper consultation or environmental scrutiny.
The rising global demand for water coupled with increasing scarcity of water stems from interconnected factors working together in disturbing ways. The earth’s growing population naturally drives up demand for drinking water, sanitation and food production. As economies develop and people move to cities, per capita water use increases through changing lifestyles, industrial processes and expanded municipal services.
Agriculture accounts for roughly 70 percent of global freshwater withdrawals, primarily for irrigation. Inefficient irrigation methods in many regions lead to significant water loss. Industries like energy production and manufacturing require vast amounts of water for cooling and processing. Climate change is a primary driver of increased droughts and persistent water scarcity. Altered weather patterns lead to extreme events such as prolonged droughts, reduced snowpack and unpredictable rainfall. These events negatively impact the natural recharge of rivers and aquifers..
Industrial, agricultural and municipal pollution contaminates existing freshwater sources. The pollution renders the freshwater resources unsafe or unusable without expensive treatment. This effectively reduces the available supply. Much of the world’s agriculture relies on pumping groundwater from aquifers. This resource is often used faster than it can naturally recharge, leading to depletion. Despite forests’ role in the water cycle, climate change alters precipitation patterns, increases drought frequency and severity and reduces overall water availability in many regions. Forests themselves struggle to maintain their function under extreme stress.
Meanwhile, commodification of drinking water has become big business worldwide with water sold in plastic bottles. While there’s not yet enough evidence that microplastics cause cancer, some research has found they can damage DNA, injure organ linings, cause inflammation and disrupt gut health.
Nevertheless, water becoming a commodity for profit raises key concerns about the economic dimension of water management.
When water is often undervalued or treated as free in some contexts, it leads to inefficient use and lack of infrastructure investment. When managed purely for profit, access for water for marginalised communities becomes limited. It is because distribution follows ability to pay rather than need. Aging or inadequate water infrastructure in many regions leads to substantial losses through leaks. Lack of appropriate national policy frameworks, effective regulation and international cooperation has led to disputes over shared water resources and unsustainable extraction practices.
Contrary to blue water from rivers and lakes, green water, i.e., soil moisture[i] essential for food production, benefits certain nations and societies more than other nations and societies. According to a report published by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water[ii], water flows through “atmospheric rivers” that carry moisture from one area to another. Healthy plant-based ecosystems return water to the atmosphere. It accounts for about half of the world’s land-based rainfall. In turn, it generates clouds that travel downward.
The report suggests that water scarcity is already a concern for half of the world’s population and is anticipated to worsen as the climate crisis deepens. It cautioned that the water crisis is escalating globally. Unless immediate measures are taken to safeguard water resources and prevent the destruction of ecosystems essential for the production of fresh water, more than half of the world’s food production could become unsustainable within the next 25 years. There will be unprecedented stress on the world’s water systems, as the demand for fresh water will be 40 per cent higher than supply by the end of the decade.
Quality of water provides the foundation of prosperity and health of a society. When clean, safe water is evenly accessible and supply exceeds demand, it creates conditions for rapid exponential growth, driving social and economic development, strengthening national security and sustaining healthy ecosystems across multiple areas of life in communities worldwide.
High quality water serves as a fundamental indicator of public health and societal prosperity, acting as a crucial catalyst for accelerating national development. Conversely, contaminated water becomes a dangerous carrier of disease and poses serious threats to human wellbeing.
This dual nature of water, as either a life giving resource or a vehicle for illness, underscores why water management must be a top priority for any nation. Communities with reliable access to clean water experience lower disease rates, higher educational achievement, greater economic productivity and improved quality of life overall.
Regions struggling with water contamination face recurring public health crises, strained healthcare systems, reduced workforce capacity and perpetual cycles of poverty. The difference between these two scenarios often lies not in natural water availability but in the quality of infrastructure, governance and commitment to treating water as a fundamental human right rather than merely an economic commodity.
Internationally, water management is also about preserving equity between the rich and the poor and the powerful and the vulnerable. The Chinese economy depends on sustainable forest management in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Baltic region. Similarly, Argentina depends on Brazil. This interconnectedness shows why fresh water needs to be placed in the global economy as a global common good; hence the need for countries to cooperate on water resource management before it’s too late. This makes preserving freshwater sources, using water more efficiently and ensuring access to fresh water for every community, including the vulnerable, absolutely critical.
Read Part 1 here: https://groundviews.org/2025/12/15/understanding-why-conservation-matters-for-sri-lanka-part-1/
[i] In hydrology “blue and green water” refers to two key concepts. It refers to the distinction between surface/groundwater (blue) and soil moisture (green) for resource management; in health/environment, it describes water coloured by copper corrosion or algae. Potentially it signals a hazard like blue-green algae blooms or high copper levels.
[ii] The Netherlands set up the Global Commission on the Economics of Water in 2022. To obtain a comprehensive picture of the management of water systems worldwide, it draws on the work of numerous other renowned economists and scientists. Its report is the biggest global study to look at all aspects of the water crisis and make policymakers think of ways to fix it.
