Sri Lanka is trying to do its part to combat climate change. But it will take a sea change to stop the ocean rising around the island nation.
Cracks are visible from coastal erosion on sea shore in Iranawila, Sri Lanka, 19 June 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena )
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When a country attends an international conference it normally sends about a dozen representatives.
At the climate change talkfest known as the Conference of Parties, or COP, held in November 2023 in Dubai, the tiny island nation of Sri Lanka sent 80.
Considering that Sri Lanka was in the throes of an economic crisis, the news sparked anger from people who felt that the country could ill-afford such extravagance.
Government officials defended the size of the delegation. State officials comprised just 15 of the delegates. Another 20 were youth representatives. The rest came from private sector organisations, attending with their own funds.
In Dubai, the Sri Lankan government announced three proposals, said Ruwan Wijewardene, climate change advisor to President Ranil Wickremesinghe: the tropical belt initiative, a climate justice forum and an international climate change university.
If climate change is an existential crisis for the planet, it is an immediate crisis for Sri Lanka.
Fighting off floods and droughts
Like many island nations, Sri Lanka experiences high intensity rains and long droughts which have caused havoc on its rice production and other agriculture which is dependent on regular monsoon showers. Less rain affects production while high intensity showers destroy crops by flooding rice fields.
“One of the biggest problems vis-à-vis climate change is the rapid deforestation in the country,” says Dilena Pathragoda, executive director of the Centre for Environmental Justice.
Deforestation is one of the most serious environmental issues in Sri Lanka. According to official data, an estimated 70% of the island was covered with forests at the beginning of the 19th century, which has since reduced to just 30% in 2017. This trend has continued.
Pathragoda said while the government espouses a climate change agenda, its situation at the ground level is totally different. It promotes investment in solar power as a green development, which is good for the environment, for example, but with a contradictory posture: jungles are being cleared to install mega solar power panels.
Pathragoda said the proposal for a climate university is good for the country but Sri Lanka doesn’t have the funds for it. “Everything is nice on paper and in statements but the ground reality is different,” he said.
Sri Lankans ask: where is the money?
Sri Lanka is in the midst of a major economic crisis. In 2022, a shortage of foreign cash and other crises led to a declaration of bankruptcy. It is currently negotiating a repayment of its foreign debt. Things got so bad in 2022 that people were forced to wait in snaking queues for basic needs such as fuel and cooking gas. Prolonged power cuts were the order of the day.
The International Climate Change University, to promote research on global climate change policies, is expected to be built on 600 acres of land outside Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest city. The tropical belt initiative would press developed countries to invest in more green initiatives like renewable energy and green technology for countries like Sri Lanka in the tropical belt.
Out of 180 countries in the world, Sri Lanka’s vulnerability is ranked at 100 in the Global Adaptation Index and that has worsened, according to scientist Professor Mohan Munasinghe, former vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Munasinghe said that the number one rule for Sri Lanka as well as the world is to integrate climate change policies into sustainable development strategies.
“In other words you must try to solve all the problems together as much as you can,” Munasinghe said. “You can’t do it piecemeal. Poverty is the number one [sustainable development goal] for obvious reasons as there are several billions of people who are poor. So while you address poverty, climate comes in because they are the most vulnerable people.”
This is also true in Sri Lanka, he said. “Therefore you have to climate-proof the plight of the poor.”
Fearing the rising tide
Sri Lanka is among countries most affected by extreme weather events and is expected to see a 1.2% annual GDP loss by 2050 due to climate change, according to the World Bank. It is projected that 19 million Sri Lankans – out of a total population of 22 million – are likely to live in areas that could become moderate or severe hotspots in terms of floods or droughts by 2050, researchers say.
Sri Lanka is experimenting with green financing tools and debt for nature swaps to reach a net zero target. In a recent media interview, President Wickremesing said that the country needs at least US$100 billion to be a zero emitter.
Munasinghe said that on a statutory level, the government has declared a national environment policy and a national environment action plan but that implementation has been disappointing. “We have put in a lot of effort into devising these strategies,” he said.
On the global level, he said, western nations have not done enough. A loss and damage fund formally established at the Dubai COP28 was aimed at compensating developing countries for the effects of climate change. But Munasinghe described the contributions from the western countries as “measly”.
He noted that the United Arab Emirates contributed $100 million, even though it didn’t have a history as a high emitter of carbon gas.
“The target is in the billions,” Munasinghe said. “The United States put $17 million while some other countries like Germany and the UK were shamed into contributing small sums by the UAE’s contribution. The fund is now around $700 million, but this is inadequate because the estimate of damages due to climate impact is running into hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Three questions to consider:
- What are some things Sri Lanka proposes to fight climate change?
- Why can’t Sri Lanka afford to do the things it needs to do to prepare for rising seas?
- Do you think wealthier nations should spend money to help small nations mitigate climate change?
Feizal Samath is a Sri Lankan who covered the war between Tamil Tiger guerrillas and government troops, and the leftist insurgency attempting to overthrow the government, for Reuters. A journalist for nearly four decades, he more recently has covered economic development in Sri Lanka for a newspaper in Colombo. A social activist and guitarist, Samath founded a concert series that has raised millions of rupees for children’s charities.
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