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Parallel Sessions 2: Climage Change Adaptation and Agriculture25The author outlined several areas for possible improvement:• General recognition of the cascade concept in rural development planning. Planners need todevelop management structures not only covering individual villages but a whole system ofvillages within a cascade system (just as the engineers have to deal with the whole cascadesystem rather than individual tanks).• Re-adjustment of land use and land tenure to suit current socio-economic realities withoutdestroying the cascade bases.• Preservation of the ecological system that sustained the cascade technology for manygenerations.Q: Are the ancient tanks still existing?A: Yes, the cascade system is still functioning in Sri Lanka. New irrigation systems are also beingestablished.Q: How do you prioritize the sharing of water?A: The community decides on this. If the water in the tanks is not enough, they first calculate the needfor rice. 6Q: Can the water tanks be used for raising fish culture?A: It has been pilot tested. 7Q: You characterized the cascade system as a water conservation system. It is quite common in aridzones; it is also common in Pakistan. Are you planning to modify it because in Pakistan, we have donesome modifications?A: We are not hoping to change the old irrigation system. Actually in some cases, the number of tanksin a cascade system has been reduced from the original 15 to only six to eight tanks. We are trying torehabilitate the neglected and damaged tanks and re-establish the old system.6 Note that the system was primarily designed for rice farming in the arid zones.7 However, Dr. Piyadasa also mentioned in his slides the health issues related to drinking water and eating fish from tankscontaminated by agro-chemicals, e.g., Cadmium.International Conference on Climate Change Impactsand Adaptation for Food and Environmental SecurityConference Summary Report