Water security is of paramount importance - Minister

Disna Mudalige

Water security is of paramount important in Sri Lanka because of its agricultural base, Environment and Renewable Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha said.

He was addressing the Second Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The minister observed the country has been increasingly experiencing extreme weather conditions such as droughts, floods, landslides and heavy rains from time to time. He noted understanding the vulnerability of the country from the negative effects of climate change, the ministry has formulated a National Policy on Climate Change and Strategy. Premajayantha said the ministry has also prepared the National Need Assessment on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation with wide stakeholder participation.

"We are now implementing some of the recommendations of the above and plans have been made to implement majority of recommendations in future," he said. Minister Premajayantha observed Sri Lanka is well known for its 2,500 year old hydraulic civilization. " Our country has been blessed with generous amounts of quality water that originates from pristine springs in the catchments of the central highlands. They form 103 perennial rivers supporting civilizations, livelihoods, development, ecosystems, biodiversity and the culture of the country. Apart from the rich stream diversity in Sri Lanka, it also has over 30,000 small tanks spread out in the dry zone of the country," he remarked.