Sustainable Use of Natural Capital: The Inconvenient Imperative

Sri Lanka is a small continental island with an extent of 65610 km² of which inland waters make up 2905 km². Further, Sri Lanka has a maritime area of 517,000 km² which is almost eight times larger than its land area. Although a small island, Sri Lanka is endowed with a rich natural capital. This paper aims to present an overview of the natural assets of Sri Lanka and their current usage patterns. Based on the current usage patterns, it can be concluded that many of these assets are not being used in a sustainable manner and further, that we have failed to realize the full economic potential with respect to many of these natural resources. This has resulted due to lack of a planned national approach for the use of Sri Lanka’s natural resources, which may have been abandoned because the current ad hoc approach is deemed convenient. Finally, this paper stresses the need for a paradigm shift in our approach towards the use of Sri Lanka’s natural assets, which requires a multi-sectoral needs assessment and an integrated approach towards achieving these needs. This may not be convenient as it requires a great deal of planning but is an imperative if Sri Lanka is to achieve sustainability for its limited and dwindling natural capital that will provide its citizens the greatest possible benefits.