Sri Lanka: Reducing vulnerability of communities and ecosystems to the adverse impacts of climate change in critical river basins of Sri Lanka (WFP)  (LKA/MIE/Rural/2011/1, US$7,982,555)

Having considered the comments and recommendations of the Projects and Programme Review Committee, the Adaptation Fund Board decided to:

(a) Not endorse the project concept, as supplemented by the clarification response provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) to the request made by the technical review;

(b) Request that WFP reformulate the proposal taking into account the following observations:

(i) The project does not address the underlying encroachment threat adequately, and many of the same issues addressed by the project have been attributed to loss of forest cover due to encroachment. The degree to which underlying anthropogenic drivers of degradation will be addressed, particularly in relation to the fuel stove component, should be justified adequately;

(ii) Numbers of beneficiaries are very high and the benefits, once divided, are very low per individual or household, and are intangible in many cases, or not an economic benefit. The proponent should clarify how benefits are shared, distributed, and have been quantified;

(iii) The elements of the proposal that were directly linked to climate change, such as vulnerability mapping, were minimal in the project and the proposed interventions could not be distinguished from business-as-usual forestry rather than climate resilient interventions. The adaptation rationale of the project as responding to vulnerability should be strengthened;

(iv) The project makes many assumptions in regards to cost effectiveness. The proponent should consider that the scale of agricultural investment is low and thinly distributed, without much consideration of farming techniques, or a scale-up strategy. Further, other water conservation methodologies have not been considered. The proponent is requested to consider alternative interventions to those proposed;

(v) As awareness raising is particularly important to compliment the proposed activities, awareness raising should be included within each output and specifically delineated; and

(vi) The proponent should clarify both the institutional arrangements and that there would not be any cost implications from partnering with another Multilateral Implementing Entity.

(c) Request the WFP to transmit the observations under item (b) to the Government of Sri Lanka, on the understanding that a revised concept might be submitted at a later date.