Keeping rivers healthy in an era of climate change

www.iwmi.orgA water-secure world

Phot

o: S

anjin

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Silv

a/IW

MI

Keeping rivers healthy in an era of climate change

Nishadi EriyagamaJanuary 17, 2014Colombo, Sri Lanka



Dry Zone

Wet Zone

Intermediate Zone

Highest temperature increase in agricultural areas

Observed climatic changes Temperature

Source: Zubair et al. 2005

Anuradhapura

Badulla

Rainfall Change in distribution of annual rainfall

Southwest monsoon: Stable (Yala)

Northeast monsoon: reduced and variability increased (Maha)



Climate change vulnerability ‘hot spots’

Ratnapura

Nuwara Eliya

Anuradhapura

Highly vulnerable areas are:

• Primary food-producing areas - rely heavily on water availability for agriculture

• Mapping method developed by IWMI shared with partners and used to create the Sri Lanka National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2011-2016

• Currently studying how best to use the ancient tank system to adapt to climate change

• Providing capacity building and expert advice to the Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy

Vulnerability index



Climate change will affect our rivers

The Sri Lanka Environmental Flow Calculator (SLEFC) is a software package to estimate how much water should be left in rivers to ensure they remain healthy

This methodology is being used by the Dam Safety and Water Resources Planning Project (DSWRPP) in the National Water Resources Master Plan and the Mahaweli and Mundeni Aru Basin development plans



ස්තූතියි Thank you

நன்றி�

For a climate resilient Sri Lanka

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Keeping rivers healthy in an era of climate change