Project results and activities in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is an island country in the Indian Ocean, with a land area of 65 610 km2 and a population of 21.6 million. It has a network of approximately 103 principal rivers and tributaries, most of which originate in the central and southern hill country.
There are three climatic zones in Sri Lanka: the dry zone (annual rainfall less than 1750 mm), the intermediate zone (annual rainfall 1750–2500 mm) and the wet zone (annual rainfall 2500–4500 mm). Because Sri Lanka is an island, the only source of water is this direct rainfall. The biggest user of the available water is agriculture.
Agriculture accounted around eight percent to the national GDP in 2020. Paddy is the most important and the main irrigated crop which produced 4.1 million tonnes in 2019–2020, enough to feed the entire population of the country. Paddy it is grown all over the country twice a year mainly in two monsoon seasons, the Maha season from September to March and the Yala season from April to September. Rice contributes to 1.8 percent of country’s GDP, and 1.8 million families are engaged in its production. About 983 550 hectares are under paddy, corresponding to 43 percent of all agriculture lands.
According to the Climate Risk Index 2021, Sri Lanka is ranked as the 30th most vulnerable country in the world in 2021. The country is very vulnerable to the extreme weather events, such as prolonged droughts. Coupled with population growth, economic growth and industries leading to deterioration of water quality, the competition on water and water scarcity has increased in recent years.
Project area: Malwathu Oya Catchment
The Malwathu Oya basin is the second largest river basin among the river basins in Sri Lanka (3 284 km2) and one of the major agricultural areas in the country.
The project area, the Malwathu Oya south catchment is part of the Malwathu Oya river basin extends over 77 950 ha. The population in the area has been estimated at 204 775. Agriculture and especially rice farming is the predominant livelihoods of the households,
Results
KnoWat established a geospatial database based on FAO’s Water Productivity through Open-access of Remotely sensed derived data (WaPOR) tool. The database covers all Sri Lanka and, at a higher resolution, the Malwathu river basin. Thus, Sri Lanka is the first Asian country to have a WaPOR database. A comprehensive water resources assessment of Sri Lanka and Malwathu river basin have been carried out to acquire key data and information on water accounting, governance and water productivity.
The project built the capacities of technical staff of key government institutions at national, basin and local level on the use and management of data for better water management, and identified different development pathways for agricultural development in the basin.
The KnoWat project worked to raise awareness between national stakeholders from government, civil society, private sector and media on the issues of water scarcity, water access and agricultural water productivity, and the linkages between water tenure and climate change.