President Ranil Wickremesinghe highlighted that it is not solely the responsibility of developing countries such as Sri Lanka to mitigate climate change in the world.
During the Presidential Environment Awards 2021- 2022 ceremony held yesterday (28) at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo, the President emphasized that developed countries, which are the primary contributors to polluting the environment, should also contribute to the cause through funding.
The President noted that Sri Lanka will take the lead in ensuring that the developing economies receive the resources to mitigate climate change.
Furthermore, President Wickremesinghe acknowledged the need for new laws to establish Sri Lanka as a green economy. He announced that several new laws would be introduced in thecoming years to address this issue.
At the ceremony, organized by the Central Environmental Authority, 90 individuals received awards under the main sectors of industries, businesses and projects, institutions, media, and society. President Ranil Wickremesinghe presented the gold awards, and Environment Minister Naseer Ahmed presented the President with a plaque. After the award presentation, President Ranil Wickremesinghe also posed for a group photograph with the gold award winners.
Following is the full speech delivered by President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Presidential Environment Awards;“I must commend all those who are among the award winners for the contribution you havemade to improve the environment of this country. To them I say thank you.
The previous speakers before me have outlined to you what Sri Lanka is doing in respect of environment and I do not wish to deal with those issues. I would like to mention to you during the debate on the IMF and earlier, I mentioned the need for a new economy, a highly competitive economy which is also a digital economy and a green economy. So as the economic reforms and the restructuring begins, it also involves Sri Lanka becoming a green economy. So that’s a start and there is a lot more work that has to be done. So as we become a green economy, we also need the legislation and there will be a lot of new legislation in the coming years such as a new Environmental Act, because our environmental act was passed in the 80’s and there have been far more advances thereafter. A Climate Change Act, Living Entities Act, we would like to have Sinharaja, Horton Plains, Peak Wilderness, Knuckles and Mahaweli as living entities and we will have to look at the Forest Act and bring in a new one will also cater for reforestation law to protect the Muthurajawela Swamp and one on protecting scenic beauties. So there is a large number of laws that have to be drafted andpresented in the coming year.
In addition to it, Sri Lanka intends to play a role in the global campaign for climate change mitigation and that is going to be the Climate Change University which we proposed here and that will be used by officials, NGO’s and others for training in climate change and also for post graduate awards.
So this is our scheme in going ahead and giving priority to climate change mitigation, environment and a green economy. What we are faced with and a lot of developing countries are faced with is a lack of resources. How do we access them? Are we getting the carbon credits? There are many financial schemes and instruments available. How can all of us in all the countries attempt to get the benefit of these schemes? Sri Lanka as a country is certainly
looking at how we can benefit and how we can apply for the schemes. But the question is that Sri Lanka alone cannot change the climate change in the world. We alone cannot do it, the whole world has to do it, and there the question comes up, is there enough funding for all this? How do you find the money, the financial resources for these especially for climate change mitigation and protecting the environment?
Now, this is a question we have to ask because the actual damage was not done by us. The damage was done by the West and the other countries that decided to develop. So the developed countries through the process of industrialization, a number of wars, especially the two World Wars and even the Vietnam War have all contributed to bringing about the climate change. Now, we have to suffer the consequences. So, what we say is that funding has to come. In addition to what we have and what we can raise, there has to be funding available from those who are responsible for it. As far as we are concerned, we cannot put all the money into climate change. We have to fund education; we have to look at health, infrastructure and all those have to be met with. Then, where does the money come from?
Some in the developed world says there is not enough money. To me that is not an answer at all. The last conference of parties adopted the loss and damage principle. Again this means, for the loss and damage there must be money, but if the financial resources can’t come, well, it’s like a judgment that cannot be executed because one party hasn’t got the money. So we have to ask because it’s not like the world hasn’t got the money.
If you look at the money that has been spent on the Ukraine war, on one side, Russia is spending a lot of money and on the other side it is the West. USA alone has given a 100 billion dollars to Ukraine. Then you have the Indo-Pacific and the rising tensions and how all sides are building more aircraft carriers, they are building more planes, they are strengthening their defenses. There is over 100 billion there alone over the next few years.
So you have America on one side, China on the other side and India on one side, there is Japan and Australia and others who are spending money. So look at the amount of money spent on armament and various other purposes. So, there is money and that money has to be made available.
The other problem that we have in the developing world is that most countries are reeling under the debt. Sri Lanka is one of the first countries and has taken steps to get out of it, but that alone is not enough. A large number of countries that are reeling under debt will have no resources for climate change mitigation. So, these are two sides of the coin. Funding for climate change mitigation projects and access for that funding and secondly, the debt issues of the developing economies. These are two issues that are actually joined. So this is what we have to raise and discuss.
Sri Lanka certainly, will take this position as we go in for the next round of conferences regarding the environment and the climate. I thought I would outline for you what we are planning to do, both locally and internationally. The Environment Minister will be leading the international efforts supported by the Foreign Affairs Ministry but this will be one of the key plans of our foreign policy. We have no doubt that Sri Lanka will take the lead in ensuring that the developing economies have the resources certainly to mitigate climate change in their areas.”
Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Chairman of the Central Environment Authority Supun S.Pathirage, Director General P.B. Hemantha Jayasinghe, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau Chairman R.Sanjeepan, Director General Ajith Prem and many others were present on this occasion.
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