This project is about climate change, conflict and how they are entangled in post-war Sri Lanka. There are currently no ethnographic studies of the social life of climate change, or the process of adaptation, in communities affected by civil conflict. This study will address this through ethnographic research of a climate change adaptation intervention in Sri Lanka's Dry Zone - a site of unresolved ethnic conflict, already experiencing the effects of climate change. This research will form links between the anthropology of climate change, theorisations of risk and danger (Beck 2007; Douglas 1992), analyses of Sri Lanka's 'ethnic' conflict (Tambiah 1986) and literature considering the politicisation of disaster (Simpson 2014). In doing so, it seeks to move beyond existing ethnographic accounts of 'living in denial' in the West (Norgaard 2011) and culturally-bound interpretations of climate change in the Global South (Lipset 2011; Rudiak-Gould 2013). Research Questions 1) How is the risk of climate change perceived by Tamil and Sinhalese Sri Lankans in the wake of a violent conflict? 2) To what extent will ethnic conflict coalesce around, or be dissipated by, the process of adaptation? 3) In what ways will the legacies of the conflict shape adaptation policy? Methodology and Timetable of Research Mixed-ethnic communities in the Dry Zone that are currently being targeted by a $38,000,000 intervention will form the context of this study. This intervention was initiated by the Sri Lankan government and is co-funded by the Green Climate Fund and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Broadly, it aims to 'strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers in the Dry Zone to climate variability and extreme events' (UNDP 2017), with emphasis on the necessity of inter-ethnic co-operation. Year 1 I have been refining my research questions and receiving further methods training during the MA in Anthropological Research Methods at SOAS. I have also been learning Sinhala and Tamil. Years 2-3 12 months of fieldwork in Sri Lanka will deploy the following methods, corresponding to the research questions outlined above. 1) After two months of language training in Colombo, I will spend seven months conducting ethnographic fieldwork in two communities targeted by the intervention: one in the district of Anuradhapura, where the Sinhalese form the ethnic majority, and one in Vavuniya, where the Tamils do. Through participant observation of daily life and in-depth interviews with Sinhalese and Tamil villagers, research will focus on individual and collective memories of the conflict, the history of rural development in the area, perceptions of the changing climate, and the ways in which memories of past traumas shape the perception of climate-based risk. 2) By taking part in co-operative community adaptation activities and studying their management within the community, the extent to which ethnic tension coalesces around the process of adaptation will be studied ethnographically. 3) The remaining three months will be spent conducting participant observation of policymaking in Colombo. I will attend workshops and roundtable events for environmental NGOs and policymakers, study policy documents, and interview local environmental activists and climate scientists. Years 3-4 I will write-up my findings and disseminate them to stakeholders in Colombo and the wider development community. The findings of this study will be of direct relevance to local policymakers such as the Sri Lankan government's Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, local implementing NGOs and international development agencies (IWMI, Green Climate Fund, United Nations Development Programme). I will engage these actors during the design phase, with the aim that they become stakeholders in the project and implements its finings.