Climate change adaptation to cost Rs 47.7 billion

Action plan from 2011 to 2016:

Ramani KANGARAARACHCHI

An estimated Rs 47.7 billion will be required to implement the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (NCCAS) of the country over its six year duration.

Creating climate resilient and healthy cities and villages across Sri Lanka will require collective action that blends the approaches of disaster risk reduction.

NCCAS Team Leader Nayana Mawilmada said the majority of these financial resources will be channelled directly to the agencies and stakeholders to finance and implement climate change adaptation interventions of varied scale.

He was speaking at the final Asian Development Bank workshop on strengthening capacity for climate change adaptation in Sri Lanka yesterday.

The country has set ambitious national development targets and it will make major new investments in all sectors to overcome poverty and consolidate its status as a middle income country.

However, climate change impacts and resulting global warming can delay or derail these plans.

To pursue the development agenda despite these challenges an integrated approach to improve climate resilience in all sectors of economy is required.

“Therefore climate change adaptation which involves coping with impacts with knowledge, technology and careful planning is required,” he said.

Mawilmada said Sri Lanka can attract substantial international resources aimed at climate change adaptation and resilience by correctly positioning Sri Lanka. Pursuing these opportunities, however requires effort that needs to be guided by the Finance Ministry and supported by technical experts from different sectors and agencies.

He said that although Sri Lanka is a negligible contributor to global warming it is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These vulnerabilities cut across many sectors in the economy and threaten to compromise the significant achievements the country has recorded in the past 20 years and investments currently being as part of the ongoing development drive are also at risk.