President launches Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday launched the Climate Change Adaption Action Plan in Colombo at the Western Province Climate Change Summit.

The inaugural session of the international Climate Change Summit commenced on Tuesday at the Hilton Hotel in Colombo under the patronage of the President.

The two-day international summit on Climate Change and Adaptation is being held under the aegis of Western Provincial Council of Sri Lanka on the theme ‘Climate Change Adaptation, Bridging the Gap between Strategies and Action on the Ground’.

Addressing the summit, Joan Franca, Specialist for International Relations and Sustainability (Rio de Janeiro), said each country had to develop appropriate policies to prepare for climate change.

“The phenomenon we call climate change is an ineluctable reality. Each country is under compulsion to develop appropriate policies, strategies and practices to combat the dreadful impact of climate change,” Franca said.

“Sri Lanka cannot escape or evade the challenge,” he added.

The summit, which is a part of Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development (nrg4SD) General Assembly, brings together nrg4SD members, representatives from other regional governments, as well as environmental groups, academics and industry, to work towards common approaches to implementing climate policies on the ground, and facilitate dialogue among sub-national governments and other relevant stakeholders.

It mainly intends to establish contact with sub-national governments and reinforce the network in those continents by promoting partnerships through mitigation and adaptation strategies regarding climate change with the participation of political and diplomatic representatives and other relevant stakeholders.