Climate Resilient Eco Village Development (CREVD) 2024-2026
Ongoing Project
Climate Resilient Eco Village Development (CREVD) is one of the progressive interventions initiated by IDEA to promote bottom-up community-based village development in Sri Lanka. CREVD is a holistic planning approach that potentially improves climate resilience while strengthening the well-being of rural communities through climate adaptation, mitigation, and other livelihood-strengthening options.
The total cost of the project has been estimated as 230 000 EURs and the “Bread For The World” institute is working as the main donor of the project. According to the massive advocacy of the Eco-village development concept nationally and internationally, IDEA could leap forward with this project with the collaboration of the Ministry of Environment, Climate change secretariat, and other local administrative bodies like government and non-governmental organizations in Sri Lanka.
CREVD concept aims to improve the climate resilience of vulnerable groups in rural communities including farmers, by introducing sustainable paddy farming techniques, organic farming, soil conservation, rainwater harvesting technologies, flood and salinity tolerant cultivars, etc. Parallelly, farmers are encouraged to adapt to alternative livelihoods such as mushroom farming and food preservation technologies like food dehydration.
On the other hand, climate mitigation technologies have been promoted in rural areas to reduce carbon emissions by supporting efficient biomass practices such as improved biomass cook stoves and improved kitchens, which have multiple benefits.
After considering the ecological, social, political, and economic context of Sri Lanka, two districts have been selected to implement the project. Namely, Kandy and Matara. These districts are highly vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change and both districts are home to a majority of rural communities.
Simultaneously, a Participatory Assessment of Climate and Disaster Risks (PACDR) Sessions were conducted based in Werapitiya, Kandy, and Kithalagama, Matara. The PACDR session of Kandy was held in the 25th and 26th of January 2025. PACDR session of Werapitiya was held on the 25th and 26th of January 2025. Based on the Matara district, PACDR sessions were separately organized in Kithalagama Area I, on the 15th and 16th of January 2025 as well as in Kithalagama Area III, on the 20th and 21st of January 2025. Through the PACDR sessions, villagers were encouraged to discuss the issues related to their regions and the solutions that can be developed within their villages. The sessions were conducted by Mr. L. Gajanayake and Mr. Deepal Nishantha who were involved as the resource persons of the PACDR session. In the two-day PACDR sessions,. The village meeting participants exceeded 50 in both areas and villagers were encouraged to discuss the issues related to their regions and the solutions that can be developed within the village. Moreover, PRA tools were used to extract the information and responses from the villagers followed by some discussion sessions.