CRAES is a proposed USD 100 million investment to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities, ecosystems and rural economies in Sri Lanka to increasing climate risks, particularly water stress, drought and rainfall variability. The project will restore and conserve degraded agro-ecological landscapes, strengthen integrated water resources management (IWRM), and promote climate-resilient agriculture and nature-based livelihoods, including value addition and market linkages. It will also establish an adaptation finance mechanism and resource mobilisation strategy to support sustained investment in climate resilience. By demonstrating scalable, nature-based and financially sustainable approaches, CRAES aims to strengthen water and food security, ecosystem services and rural livelihoods while creating opportunities for wider investment and replication.
Project overview
Investment opportunity
Investment types sought
Grant Funding; Concessional Finance; Blended Finance; Guarantees; Commercial Debt; Equity; Impact Investment; Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES); Water Funds
Project status
Development stage
Concept
Additional project information
- Lead agency
- Ministry of Environment
Expected impact
Economic & development benefits
- CRAES is expected to generate economic, social and environmental benefits through improved agricultural productivity and food security
- More resilient natural-resource-based livelihoods
- Increased household incomes
- Strengthened value chains and market linkages
- Improved water quality and ecosystem services
- Creation of green employment opportunities
- The project will support communities to diversify livelihoods, develop value-added nature-based products, strengthen entrepreneurship and financial management, and engage with private-sector markets
- Restored and sustainably managed agro-ecological landscapes are expected to provide longer-term benefits for agricultural and nature-based economies
- The precise number of beneficiaries will be determined during project development
Climate & resilience benefits
- In the short term, CRAES will strengthen the adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities through climate-resilient livelihoods, agroforestry, improved water-use efficiency, rainwater harvesting, and access to locally relevant climate information
- Restoration and conservation of degraded agro-ecological landscapes, together with integrated water resources management (IWRM), will improve ecosystem services and water security while reducing vulnerability to droughts, floods and increasing rainfall variability
- Over the longer term, restored and climate-resilient ecosystems will strengthen hydrological functions, landscape connectivity and the capacity of communities and agricultural systems to withstand climate impacts
- The project will also generate evidence and knowledge to support scaling and replication of climate-resilient nature-based and IWRM approaches
Contact
Contact team
For more information about this project, please contact the Commonwealth Investment Platform team.