(Utilizing) the Influences of Chaos for Effective Environmental Management of the Vavuniya Urban Council

Abstract

This paper is based on the hypothesis that the (expansion of) human population is the major factor of influence affecting the effectivity of the environmental management system/s in any urban centre; hence the population increase in the system is directly proportional to the environmental management problems. The Vavuniya Urban Council underwent a massive change due to the large influxes of human displacement in the 1990s and the early parts of the 2000s – as a consequence of civil war related human displacement. This resulted in the unexpected or chaotic increase in the local population. As a consequence of this, the competition for the utilization of natural resources has/d increased drastically within the urban council limits – which have even created a state of chaos. This paper produces the argument that, if the elements of non-linearity and chaos prevailing within the Vavuniya Urban Council area are understood based on the holistic approaches prescribed by the ‘Gaia’ doctrine, then it becomes actually possible to effectively manage the environment through: (a). finding out the sensitive points of origins of chaotic situations and controlling/eradicating (or finding alternatives to) them, (b). administering external shocks to the chaotic system so as to induce possibilities of self-regulation and, (c). changing the orbits of the chaotic loops.