Climate Resilient Integrated Water Management Project (CRIWMP) – PALM Community Development Services Company (Guarantee) Ltd

Ongoing Projects

Climate Resilient Integrated Water Management Project (CRIWMP) is a seven-year project (2017-2024) aimed at strengthening the resilience of Smallholder Farmers in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone to climate variability and extreme events.

The project targets poor and vulnerable households in three river basins -the Malwathu Oya, Mei Oa, and Yan Oya (rivers)- which flow through the northern part of the Dry Zone. These river basins are among the most vulnerable to the vagaries of the climate, have a high presence of village irrigation systems and cascade systems on which poor and vulnerable farming populations depend for their livelihoods, and are in areas that significantly lack safe drinking water, which pose a high risk of kidney disease.

The project pioneers a holistic approach to enhancing Dry Zone water security and agricultural productivity, and for the first time in a project in Sri Lanka, will include climate smart initiatives designed to combat the effects of extreme weather events on the continuity of irrigation and drinking water supplies.

On behalf of the CRIWMP implemented by the Ministry of Irrigation with the technical contribution of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is implemented under the river basins of Mee Oya, Yan Oya and Malwatu Oya. With the full participation of the project partner institutions, activities such as water management, tank operation, and maintenance & weather consultancy for water management are carried out by the project.

There are 105 cascades in Sri Lanka. But PALM is working in collaboration under CRIWMP in Madhavaithakulam cascade, Thuduwakaikulam cascade and Kappachchikulam in Vavuniya district and Sinnakunchukulam cascade in Mannar district.

PALM is working in these cascade areas under 3 components. Those are,

Component 1

Upgrading village irrigation systems and promoting climate-resilient farming practices in three river basins of the Dry Zone.

Component 2

Upgrading village irrigation systems and promoting climate-resilient farming practices in three river basins of the Dry Zone.

Component 3

Strengthening climate/weather and hydrological observing, forecasting, and water management systems to enhance the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to droughts and floods.