Strengthening the resilience of smallholder farmers in the Dry Zone to climate variability and extreme events through an integrated approach to water management

Improving integrated water management within the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka in order to strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers in the face of rising temperatures and extreme weather events attributable to climate change. Persistent rural poverty afflicts Sri Lanka, with smallholder farmers who cultivate under village irrigation schemes being poorer than those who have access to major irrigation, and more vulnerable to impacts of climate change. Unseasonal rain and low water availability are driving down agricultural production, increasing food deficit and indebtedness, and contaminating surface water. Village irrigation schemes have been damaged through flooding, siltation, and the impact of extreme weather events, which also threaten safe drinking water access. Irrigation will be improved in the Northern and Eastern Provinces through investing in improving the community irrigation water infrastructure, scaling-up decentralized drinking water systems, and strengthening early weather warnings, flood-response, and water management. The GCF investment will build on baseline governmental investment in rural water management, so that around 770,500 people in smallholder households will benefit directly, with 1,179,800 indirect benefits of the project. The project has an estimated lifespan of 7 years.