Sri Lanka, Climate Vulnerable Forum and Nativa Capital Sign Agreement to Enhance Sustainable, Community Scale Farming, and Forest Protection

May 7, 2024, COLOMBO: The Climate Change Office of Sri Lanka, the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) and Nativa Capital of Portugal signed a memorandum of understanding today in Colombo, to work together on a farming and forest protection project in Sri Lanka which will bring prosperity to 15,000 farming families in Anuradhapura District.

The farming project with Our Movement Lanka aims to enhance community scale, family farming in Sri Lanka by introducing improved and more sustainable farming practices, with the aim of increasing farm yields and farmers’ incomes. Many farms in Sri Lanka are currently on a micro-scale and, as such, suffer from low yields and erratic incomes. It is hoped that the investments of at least $120 million will support up to 15,000 Sri Lankan farmers.

The forestry project includes ascertaining the economic value of Sri Lanka’s forests, as a first step towards forest ecosystem valorisation and preservation.

The farming and forestry projects included in the MOU were first identified in Sri Lanka’s Climate Prosperity Plan, which was drafted by Sri Lanka with the support of the CVF.

Climate Prosperity Plans are investment plans that aim to boost a country’s economic growth and create employment, while also facilitating the adoption of clean technologies that help improve the environment and reduce pollution such as greenhouse gas emissions.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

See a video of the press conference following the signing ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka: https://www.youtube.com/live/EIdlffUCyLo?si=H4Wv1wOpRNMl954x

See Sri Lanka’s Climate Prosperity Plan here: https://www.v-20.org/resources/publications/sri-lanka-climate-prosperity-plan