Editing Geography of Sri Lanka (section)

==Land use and settlement patterns==
[[File:Diagrammatic section across Sri Lanka.svg|thumb|600px|Diagrammatic section across Sri Lanka as per D. N. Wadia<ref>{{citation | title=Records of the Department of Mineralogy, Ceylon | first=Darashaw Nosherwan|last=Wadia|type=Professional paper| year=1943|publisher=Government Press|publication-place=Colombo, Sri Lanka}}</ref>]]

The dominant pattern of human settlement during the last 2,500 years has consisted of village farming communities.<ref name=":1" /> Even in the 1980s, the majority of people lived in small villages and worked at agricultural pursuits.<ref name=":1" /> Traditional farming techniques and life-styles revolve around two types of farming--"wet" and "dry"—depending upon the availability of water.<ref name=":1" />

The typical settlement pattern in the rice-growing areas is a compact group of houses or neighborhood surrounding one or several religious centers that serve as the focus for communal activities.<ref name=":1" /> Sometimes the houses may be situated along a major road and include a few shops, or the village may include several outlying hamlets.<ref name=":1" /> The life-sustaining rice fields begin where the houses end and stretch into the distance.<ref name=":1" /> Some irrigated fields may include other cash crops, such as sugarcane, or groves of coconut trees.<ref name=":1" /> Palmyra trees grow on the borders of fields or along roads and paths.<ref name=":1" /> Individual houses also may have vegetable gardens in their compounds.<ref name=":1" /> During the rainy seasons and thereafter, when the fields are covered by growing crops, the village environment is intensely verdant.<ref name=":1" />

The nature of agricultural pursuits in Sri Lanka has changed over the centuries and has usually depended upon the availability of arable land and water resources.<ref name=":1" /> In earlier times, when villagers had access to plentiful forests that separated settlements from each other, [[Slash-and-burn|slash-and-burn agriculture]] was a standard technique.<ref name=":1" /> As expanding population and commercial pressures reduced the amount of available forestland, however, slash-and-burn cultivation steadily declined in favor of permanent cultivation by private owners.<ref name=":1" /> Until the 13th century, the village farming communities were mainly on the northern plains around [[Anuradhapura]] and then [[Polonnaruwa]], but they later shifted to the southwest.<ref name=":1" /> In the 1970s, wide expanses of the northern and eastern plains were sparsely populated, with scattered villages each huddled around an artificial lake.<ref name=":1" /> The [[Jaffna]] Peninsula, although a dry area, is densely populated and intensively cultivated.<ref name=":1" /> The southwest contains most of the people, and villages are densely clustered with little unused land.<ref name=":1" /> In the Central Highlands around [[Kandy]], villagers faced with limited flat land have developed intricately terraced hillsides where they grow rice.<ref name=":1" /> In the 1960s and 1970s, the wet cultivation area was expanding rapidly, as the government implemented large-scale irrigation projects to restore the dry zone to agricultural productivity.<ref name=":1" /> In the 1970s, the area drained by the [[Mahaweli Ganga]] changed from a sparsely inhabited region to a wet rice area similar to the southwest.<ref name=":1" /> Through such projects, the government of Sri Lanka has planned to recreate in the dry zone the lush, landscape associated with the [[irrigation works in ancient Sri Lanka]].<ref name=":1" />

Beginning in the 16th century and culminating during the [[British Empire|British]] rule of the 19th and 20th centuries, the plantation economy came to dominate large sections of the highlands.<ref name=":1" /> Plantation farming resulted in a drastic reduction in the natural forest cover and the substitution of domesticated crops, such as [[rubber]], [[tea]], or [[cinnamon]].<ref name=":1" /> It also brought about a changed life-style, as the last hunting-and-gathering societies retreated into smaller areas and laborers moved into the highlands to work on plantations.<ref name=":1" /> Through the late 20th century, workers on large plantations lived in villages of small houses or in "line rooms" containing ten to twelve units.<ref name=":1" /> The numerous plantations of small landholders frequently included attached hamlets of workers in addition to the independent houses of the plantation owners.<ref name=":1" />

[[File:Sri lanka southern province aerial view.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Aerial view of the [[Southern Province, Sri Lanka|Southern Province]] showing the land use patterns of the coastal belt.]]
[[File:SriLanka2022OSM.png|thumb|right|Detailed map of Sri Lanka]]
The coastal belt surrounding the island contains a different settlement pattern that has evolved from older fishing villages.<ref name=":1" /> Separate fishing settlements expanded laterally along the coast, linked by a coastal highway and a railway. The mobility of the coastal population during colonial times and after independence led to an increase in the size and number of villages, as well as to the development of growing urban centers with outside contacts.<ref name=":1" /> In the 1980s, it was possible to drive for many kilometers along the southwest coast without finding a break in the string of villages and [[bazaar]] centers merging into each other and into towns.<ref name=":1" />

===Statistics===

'''Land use (2018):''' 20.7% arable land, 15.8% permanent crops, 7% permanent pasture, 29.4% forest, 27.1% other.<ref name=":0" />

'''Irrigated land:''' 5,700&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> (2012)<ref name=":0" />

'''Total renewable water resources:''' 52.8 cubic km<ref name=":0" />

'''Natural hazards:'''
occasional [[cyclone]]s and [[tornado]]es<ref name=":0" />

'''Environmental issues:'''
[[deforestation]]; [[soil erosion]]; wildlife populations threatened by poaching and [[urbanization]]; coastal degradation from mining activities and increased pollution; freshwater resources being polluted by industrial wastes and sewage runoff; waste disposal; air pollution in [[Colombo]]<ref name=":0" />