One particularly important aspect of Sri Lanka’s approach to the management of natural resources has been its recognition of the importance of investing in Research and Development to have an ongoing capacity to develop approaches and policies to meet emerging and evolving natural resource management challenges.
To this end, in the 1980s Sri Lanka issued a far-sighted invitation to the international community to establish in the country the global headquarters of what is now the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the world’s foremost international scientific research organization focusing on the sustainable use of water and land resources in developing countries.