Problem overview:

     Awareness and visions: In Sri Lanka, crop diversification on degraded tea land is one example of the strategy to 'integrate environmental concerns into the development process without fettering development itself.'

     Integrating stakeholders: Tea farmers in Sri lanka have been given long-term leases to land, making land and soil management a very important matter to them. These farmers have adopted environmental friendly farming practices in order to keep their land fertile throughout their lease time.

Background in summary:

     Under government ownership of land soil fertility of tea plantation was degrading: After the nationalization of large tea plantations in the early 1970s, poor management under state control resulted in a decline of their productivity and profitability over the ensuing years. One of the reasons for the degradation of certain tea lands was inadequate attention to environmental concern for sustainable development.

     The government initiated the privatization strategy to encouraged better management of farmland: With a shift in policy, a major process of reform commenced in the late 1970s, under the governments privatization strategy. Initially management of tea plantations was handed over to the private sector under 5 year management contracts. However there was no incentive for the private sector to make investments for long-term sustainable growth encompassing environment friendly management practices.

     Later leasing terms were increased to stimulate land management: Later majority ownership of plantations was transferred to the private sector, under 50-year-long term renewable leases. This stimulated long term investments in the sector, with environment friendly management practices, to achieve sustainable growth, with enhanced productivity.

     Crop diversification technique was adopted for sustainable farming: Under a Plantation Sector Reform Project (PSRP) being implemented with financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), privatized plantation companies are assisted to improve environmental conditions in their project areas and to increase productivity of tea lands, especially degraded tea lands, through crop diversification and other measures.

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
1	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	1	Cost efficient.
1	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		1	Participation of the community
1	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	1	Participation of resource owners/users
1	Socio-cultural adaptability.	1	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
1	Level of development adaptability.	1	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
3	Style of government adaptability.	1	Ability to attract political interest/support
3	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	1	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:       Intensive and unsustainable agricultural practices in the past decade has caused severe and almost irreparable impacts such as, soil erosion, silting of rivers, deforestation and desertification, to the environment. Declining of agricultural soil fertility is also a consequence of intensive cultivation, soil mineral nutrient is being used up faster than its natural recycle rate. If these unsustainable practices continue, soon, production will decline and not enough food will be supplied to the Wold population. Sustainability of the project:   Adaptability of the project to other situations:       Other countries in the region have similar problems with degraded agricultural land. Some, like Australia, have come up with different solutions. Process of decision making and implementation:   Cost efficiency: