An Indian woman fixing a solar panel
As impacts of climate change increase, Sri Lanka is also bearing their burden. Cyclone Roanu and the damage it caused to the country have tested Sri Lanka’s preparedness to combat extreme weather events and impacts of climate. This has further marked the need for resilience building in the country, especially of those most vulnerable to climate impacts, due to their geographical location, livelihoods dependent on natural resources, as well as other social and economic vulnerabilities.
Cyclone Roanu
The unexpected volumes of rainfall and heavy winds of Raonu exposed how vulnerable Sri Lanka is to nature’s extreme events. Flooding in Colombo, along the Kelani river basin and flooding of villages in the downstream of Tabbowa reservoir in Puttlam further pointed to the need for coordination in a disaster situation and on how to manage it.
The loss of lives and damage to property and how to address these issues became keen issues for Sri Lanka’s society, making issues related to climate change, such as loss and damage from climate impacts, a priority for Sri Lanka’s
development strategies.
It is important that the country takes measures to address the gaps identified, and to take steps to build resilience to face similar situations in the future. In order to do this, there needs to be a mechanism for coordination, infrastructure development as well as skill development of individuals to ensure that the population is ready to face situations of extreme weather events and not be caught unawares and unprepared to
face them.
Need for climate finance
In order to address these issues, the country needs climate finance. There is need to repair the damages suffered to roads, irrigation and infrastructure in Colombo and the surrounding areas, as well as the repairs needed for small tanks and irrigation systems destroyed in floods felt three years ago in the North and East of Sri Lanka.
The damages to tanks have severe impacts on the agriculture sector in the country and caused farmers to miss six seasons of cultivation in the last three years. To address the issues, there needs to be finance that is consistent and sufficient.
Sri Lanka is a developing country and vulnerable to impacts of climate change. Thus, it needs to be able to access climate finance, which will allow implementation of projects and programmes to address the issues faced due to climate change and to build resilience of those vulnerable to
these impacts.
Accessing funds
One option for Sri Lanka to gain climate finance is the funding available through the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The GCF was established at the 16th Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, where Parties agreed that it should be functioning as an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism of the Convention.The fund will support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing country Parties and is governed by the GCF Board, with the World Bank serving as its interim trustee of the GCF.
The GCF provides funding through direct access to developing countries and this is to be done keeping with a balance between the thematic windows of mitigation
and adaptation.
Projects and programmes addressing the extreme weather events and building resilience will come under the category for funding for adaptation.
The fund also caters to both public as well as private finance and has a target set at raising US $ 100 billion dollars a year by 2020, with the current pledges amounting to slightly over
US $ 10 billion.
How can the country access GCF funding?
Being a developing country, Sri Lanka falls under the countries eligible to apply for funding under the GCF. However, the process for application is tedious and the country needs an accredited entity to the GCF through which it could apply for funding. To provide funding for developing countries in their climate actions, the GCF works through a wide range of
accredited institutions.
The institutions need to go through a process which evaluates their fiduciary standards, ability to manage environmental and social risks and fit for the purpose of implementing the project.
To date, 33 entities in the world have been accredited as entities that are able to access funding from the GCF. These include national, regional and
international bodies.
At present, the country is not equipped with a national entity that is accredited to access funding, which leaves regional and international bodies accredited and UN agencies that are accredited to access for funding as possible entities through which the country could access funding for the implementation of the much-needed adaptation actions.
Sri Lanka needs adaptation finance
Though the process needs a lot of documentation and time investment, it is important that addressing the need for finance for adaptation actions is prioritised. The country knows that climate change is real and that communities that were impacted by a war and other economic and social vulnerabilities are among those highly impacted by climate impacts. Climate action needs to address the need for water resources for agriculture, infrastructure development, as well as the needs of communities vulnerable due not having access
to resources.
Sri Lankan needs to accept the reality and seek for finance that will protect the country from being unprepared to face extreme events and safeguard its
people’s livelihoods.
A country’s success is visible through how it addresses the needs of its most vulnerable citizens. And it is time we pay attention to those who are climate vulnerable and address their needs.
In order to achieve this, we need to focus more on climate finance and seek actively opportunities for the country to access funding through the existing mechanisms funding concrete and effective
climate actions.
