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Stage set for Lanka’s Climate Change Act and international university
View(s):- Exclusive reports from Sharm el-Sheikh COP27 conference
By Tharushi Weerasinghe reporting from Egypt
The Sunday Times learns that climate change-specific legislation, an Act to empower the Climate Change Secretariat with more authority and resources, could be ready next month.
“It will most likely be introduced during this budget season over the next two to three weeks,” said Ruwan Wijewardene, Senior Advisor to the President on Climate Change.
Addressing COP27, President Ranil Wickremesinghe called for international support to set up an international climate change university in Sri Lanka
This was previously attempted during the Yahapalana government by experts like Dr. Sunimal Jayathunga, the current additional secretary (environmental development) at the Environment Ministry who is also a part of the Lankan COP delegation to Egypt.
The Act drafted in 2017 had even made it to the legal draftsman’s office later but then fell through due to political instability.
Avoidable environmental damage due to badly planned development projects, and corruption, which Mr. Wijewardene agreed, were significant obstacles in Sri Lanka. There would be more clear-cut mechanisms of recourse through the Act.
The Act would be the rule book to ensure that climate finance that Sri Lanka gets will not be misused.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking at the United Nations Climate Conference revealed that Sri Lanka was in talks with investors to explore the establishment of an international university that would teach climate change sciences at the undergraduate and doctorate levels. The Commonwealth and Asian Development Bank were already on board.
“This is very much with the intention of capacity building even within Sri Lanka,” Mr Wijewardene said.
The university would offer local negotiators the opportunity to hone their skills, which are in deficit, for the specialised nature of climate negotiations, especially at COPs.
According to Mr. Wijewardene, the university will focus on research apart from capacity building and will also have a branch in the Maldives for the study of the Indian Ocean.
Climate finance was a focus for President Wickremesinghe.
“Massive changes in the climate are affecting our food security, our water, natural disasters are happening every year etc.”
The president’s speech at the world leader’s session, according to Mr. Wijewardene, won him a lot of allies.
President Wickremesinghe called upon like-minded leaders to convene before COP28 next year to strategise a united front on the finance agenda and get the pledging countries to honour their promises.
Mr. Wijewardene responded to a Sunday Times’ question of whether COP27 was a missed opportunity for Sri Lanka by disagreeing as the president’s speech itself had garnered allies for Sri Lanka in Asia and Africa.
Sri Lanka has received some climate finance.
“We have to assess whether or not we have efficiently used the finances we have received,” Mr. Wijewardene noted.
He said this had been an issue in the past even though a substantial amount of work has been done where climate change is concerned. The lack of inter-agency coordination was a problem.
He told the Sunday Times that a lot of work done by various ministries in Sri Lanka was going unaccounted for because of this.
“This is one of the reasons why the president will move the climate change office under him and drive the agenda through by bringing all the stakeholders under one entity.’’
The approach to climate has to change however, Mr. Wijewardene noted.
“We have to look at it as a national issue and assess the impact of climate change not just on agriculture but on development, infrastructure, more holistically to see how we can access climate finance and use it correctly.”
“The president being here showed that climate change is a top priority on his agenda,” he said, adding that the plan was to use it in line with plans for economic recovery.
The Climate Prosperity Plan will be a key pillar in this.
The CPP was launched earlier this week at the Climate Vulnerable Forum Pavilion at the COP27 venue in Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this week in the presence of President Wickremesinghe, the Sri Lankan delegation, and other world leaders. It outlined green economy projects that Sri Lanka would run.
“We’re hoping that it will propel the economy into greener pathways from renewable energy to agriculture to eco-tourism and e-transport.”
Mr. Wijewardene said expectations are that investors would come from all over the world to invest in Sri Lanka’s green future and provide much needed forex.
COP27 alone which hosted multiple private sector stakeholders from various sectors, was also a hotspot of access to investors, lenders, and innovation opportunities.
“There are multiple financial organisations here that we are exploring green and blue bond potential as well.”
President Wickremesinghe met with heads of the IMF, the World Bank, and the UN Secretary-General Mr Antonio Guterres, and Commonwealth Secretary-General Ms Patricia Scotland.
High-level officials of the local delegation had “productive meetings and found that there is a lot of interest in Sri Lanka that can be used as an opportunity’’.
“Sri Lanka, however, has not managed to procure any climate financing at this COP,” he said, adding that Sri Lanka had not necessarily made any open appeals in the regard.
“This is how it normally goes at COPs,” assured Dr. Jayathunga. He noted that COPs often work as platforms on which countries establish their stances and set the stage to source financing outside of the conference.
While pledges are made, materialisation takes significantly longer. Education is definitely a good move but it’s definitely worth starting younger because Sri Lankans lack understanding about climate change massively”, noted climate activist Ms Melanie Gunathilaka.
According to her, combating consumerism and changing people’s habits will have a lasting impact and make the switch to a green economy easier.
“Waste reduction is also key, so the exploration of a circular economy might be better and more viable than a green economy.”
Government officials at pre-COP meetings in Sri Lanka told the Sunday Times that adaptation finance, ‘loss and damage’, and carbon-related market mechanisms would be the primary focus of the negotiators this year with focuses also on agriculture and renewable energy.
With another week of negotiations left to go, the possibilities are vast and prone to sudden shifts. The Sri Lankan delegation will continue to sit in on the technical meetings.
(This story was produced as part of the 2022 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Centre for Peace and Security)
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