Climate Change and Variability and Tea and Coconut Plantations in Sri Lanka
Project Summary
Orographic clouds rise from the West of the hill-country
of Sri Lanka over a Tea Plantation
The Project:
Tea and Coconut are among the important tropical plantation crops.
These crops are particularly vulnerable to climatic variability
and change. Coconut is vulnerable in particular to drought.
Tea in Sri Lanka derives its distinctive flavours and reputation for
quality from its particular regional and seasonal climatic history.
Climatic anomalies thus have a direct bearing on both Tea and Coconut.
Over a million people depend on plantations for their livelihoods in Sri
Lanka. Any decline in production or quality will have a direct
impact on both livelihoods and on the Sri Lankan economy. Tea and Rubber
accounted for 50% of national exports in 1986. A large fraction of the
tea production in Sri Lanka is undertaken within the Mahaweli basin.
How can these crop plantations cope with climatic variability and adapt to
climate change? That is the question that a multi-sectoral team of
scientists in Sri Lanka are seeking to answer. In doing so, they will also
in the process build capacity for climatic and crop modelling and
integrated assessment.
They are undertaking this project after garnering funding in 2002 for a
three-year project under the AIACC program of Global Environmental
Facility of the
United Nations Environment Program
which is administered by global change SysTem
for Analysis, Research and Training
(START) and the Third World
Academy of Sciences
(TWAS). The funding is limited only to "Developing Countries."
A coconut plantation extends
The Partners:
The project team has been assembled by the
Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science
(SLAAS) and comprises of scientists from the
Tea Research Institute
, Coconut Research Institute
, Department of Meteorology
, the University of Peradeniya
and Natural Resources Management Services of the Mahaweli Authority of Sri
Lanka and the International Research Institute for climate
prediction (IRI).
All of these government agencies (apart for SLAAS and IRI) have a long
standing involvement in the plantation sector. The Tea and
Coconut Research
Institutes draw funds from the Plantation sector and are responsible for
research and extension services. The Department of
Meteorology is responsible for meteorological services and has lately initiated
studies into climate change via the
Centre for Climate Change Studies.
The University of Peradeniya has conducted studies on solar radiation,
solar energy and applications in the tea plantation industry. The Natural
Resources Management Services is involved as it capitalizes on a collaborative
research with the IRI for two years with a focus on the upper Mahaweli
catchment which overlaps with the tea plantations. It also has specialized
expertise and resources in watershed management and geospatial mapping for
the highlands of Sri Lanka.
After a meeting of the project team at the Tea
Research Institute, Ratnapura, June 2002
Benefit to the IRI:
IRI supports this effort intellectually and with the capability built up
at the NRMS over a period of two years through its projects. IRI
in turns benefits as the infrastructure, staff and funds of NRMS for climate
research are enhanced. In practical terms, the NRMS has obtained a
high-end PC and software, ISDN internet access,
a research assistant, support staff, and access to large volumes of
data from the Department of Meteorology, Tea Research Institute, Coconut
Research Institute and the University of Peradeniya. In additional, this
group is ready-made network for propagating IRI research and findings
more broadly in Sri Lanka and to the global environmental community.
