Are we ready for climate disasters?

Sri Lanka is currently going through its worst economic crisis in history. It is a home-grown crisis of incompetence, corruption and mismanagement. The current devastating consequences could have been avoided had the necessary corrective measures been taken at the right time and there were checks and balances to ensure course correction when things were going wrong. 

Just as Sri Lanka ignored the warning signs of a pending economic crisis, it seems we are equally ignorant about a possible climate crisis that has the potential to wreak further havoc on the economy and the social fabric of the country.

A quick glimpse of what is happening in Pakistan is an indication to the devastating effects of climate change which is no longer in the realm of theory. Pakistan is currently undergoing its worst floods in recent history with one-third of the country submerged. More than 1,100 people have already been killed, a million homes have been destroyed and 33 million people have been directly affected. Total damage estimates exceed $ 10 billion and further disruption to the country’s economy and critical food production is inevitable. This is not an annual flooding of the Indus River or an exceptional case. Pakistan has more than 7,000 glaciers in its northern mountainous regions. As these glaciers melt due to increase in global temperature their waters contribute to the flooding. Further climate change has affected the monsoon in the South Asian region which has resulted in extreme dry periods followed by more than normal monsoonal downpours, resulting in widespread flooding.

Despite Pakistan having the fifth largest population in the world with over 230 million people, it contributes less than 1% of the global emissions that cause climate change. There is no parity or justice when facing the effects of climate change and often countries that are least responsible for causing global environmental change are facing the brunt of the resulting challenges. It is for this very reason that countries such as ours must take the necessary precautionary measures in advance and prepare for eventualities. As a small island and a developing nation now amid an economic meltdown, Sri Lanka is highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Consequences of climate change such as temperature rise, rainfall variability and sea level rise are critically affecting almost all economic sectors of the country. Occurrences of natural disasters due to extreme weather conditions such as prolonged droughts, flash floods and landslides deprive lives and livelihoods of people.

In 2010 the Government initiated the development of a National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and in 2012 adopted a National Climate Change Policy. The National Adaptation Plan was presented in 2016 identifying several key areas including agriculture, fisheries, water, human health, coastal and marine, ecosystems and biodiversity, infrastructure and human settlements as the most vulnerable sectors to the adverse effects of climate change. This was intended to focus policy development, strengthen cooperation, enhance institutional setup, and effectively mobilise resources to face this challenge. 

Like many policies and development initiatives in the country, the National Adaptation Plan has also been forgotten and there does not seem to be any cohesive policy making that takes the threat of climate change with the seriousness it deserves. The costs of inaction in this regard can be devastating and the price to be paid would be steep. In that context it is encouraging that President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his interim Budget presentation stressed the need for suitable measures urgently to reduce the climate effects. For that, he said the Ministry in charge of the subject of environment should prepare a suitable program and obtain necessary support from the Climate Fund and implement a mitigation program accordingly. Irrespective of the economic crisis that is preoccupying policymakers, it is imperative that they also focus on the real threats posed through climate change which can have serious ramifications on food security, water resources and the general survival of the populace. Undermining the vulnerability of Sri Lanka to effects of climate change would be a serious mistake which would have even worse consequences than the current economic crisis.