As a follow up to The Nutritional Security Program, RRI launched the CCRP with the overall goal of improving coastal livelihoods through small enterprise development, home garden rehabilitation and ecosystem restoration. Home garden development is carried out in a manner similar to that of the Nutritional Security Program – plants are propagated and distributed by 7 community based organisations (CBO) to a total of 700 smallholders. Each CBO manages a nursery that produces edible, ornamental and utility plants for home garden development and coastal ecosystem restoration activities. Selected farmers and CBO members are trained in mushroom cultivation, floriculture, organic farming techniques, and small business management to encourage crop and income diversification.

The ecological restoration component was developed to address the need to restore vital ecological services in coastal areas. The mangroves, wetlands and coral reefs provide protection from coastal storms, mitigate flooding, represent vital fish breeding grounds, and produce edible plants, firewood, building materials, and ornamental fish. RRI is currently identifying 180 acres of priority coastal ecosystems to restore in collaboration with local community members. This 3 year project is supported by Swiss Labour Assistance, a Solidar consortium member.

Long stretches of the Sri Lankan coastlines have been severely damaged as a result of Tsunami. Trees, shrubs and cover vegetation have been washed away, leaving only a bare soil with vegetal debris, sand and mud. Without human help, it will take decades for the vegetation to recover completely.

Thanks to RRI’s strong experience in Analogue Forestry, and based on the methodologies of international organisations such as IUCN and Green Coast, RRI is now implementing a large scale project of coastal rehabilitation along the South-West coast of Sri Lanka. In total, about 180 acres will be replanted over a period of 3 years from Ambalangoda to Tangalle.

The project aims at recreating a green belt along the coast which will restore the soil cover, improve the biodiversity, and last but not least, provide a wind barrier and shade that will allow homegardening activities to take places only meters from the coast.

The project will be carried in three phases. After identifying the most appropriate sites to restore, in collaboration with the Coast Conservation Department, RRI will start planting seedlings of big trees to slow down the wind as soon as possible, improving therefore the microclimatic conditions for the next plants to come. In a second phase, a living fence will be set up all around the restored area, to protect the area from grazing cattle. Eventually the third phase will consist of planting smaller plants constituting the lower layer of vegetation i.e. the weeds and grasses After 10 or 15 years, the pattern of vegetation should be able to divert the winds upwards to create a wind shelter behind the barrier.

Green Canopy Program, Tangalle and Batticaloa

Building for tsunami related housing sites typically involves the clearing of vegetation leaving the area vulnerable to extreme heat and soil erosion, which in turn leads to decreased agricultural production and heavy sedimentation in freshwater ways. RRI has partnered with local NGO’s Community Restoration and Upliftment Foundation in Tangalle and Batticaloa to restore vegetation around 150 new homes. This program also aims to build local capacity in sustainable agriculture, organic farming, bio-remediation, horticulture and ecological restoration.

Hikkaduwa National Marine Park

RRI is currently working with the Department of Wildlife and Conservation (DWLC) to make and install signs that will help demarcate park boundaries and increase enforcement capacity of local DWLC agents.