The nomination derived from the Ministry in response to the letter sent by Monika Weber-Fahr, Executive Secretary and CEO, GWP addressed to Anura Dissanayake, Secretary, Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment by expressing the interest (EOI) of GWP to become a GCF Readiness Delivery Partner. On top of that, GWP’s engagement with various levels of Government and other stakeholders in the country on this front over the years, and the strategic discussions lined up by Lal Induruwage, the Regional Coordinator for GWP South Asia with the Director, Climate Change Secretariat at the Ministry paved the way to this collaboration. Further, the Secretary, Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment writing a letter to the GCF informed that GWP has been nominated by the Ministry to be considered as a delivery partner for the preparation of their second readiness proposal.
The first Readiness proposal has been developed emphasising watershed management in Central Highlands in Sri Lanka. “Through this specific readiness, the Government of Sri Lanka expects to prepare a proposal on effective water management in rest of Sri Lanka and to implement the project with GWP” said the R. D. S. Jayathunga, Director, Climate Change Secretariat of the Ministry while handing over the letter of nomination to the GWP South Asia Regional Coordinator, with the presence of Ranjith Ratnayake, Country Coordinator, GWP Sri Lanka.
GWP’s engagement with the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, Sri Lanka on NDA readiness over the years and specifically in 2018 have laid the foundation to the nomination. The recent collaborations were as follows.
- In September 2018, representatives from the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment participated in a workshop on Preparation of Climate Resilience Water in Manila, organised by GWP with technical inputs from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
- In November 2018, GWP collaborated with the Ministry to conduct a stakeholder consultation workshop in Colombo, to review the ambition and implementation status of Sri Lanka’s NDC. The outcomes of this workshop fed into Sri Lanka’s contributions at COP24.
- In December 2018 at COP24 in Katowice, Poland, GWP and the Government of Sri Lanka jointly organized a side-event titled “A Tropical Country Response to Climate Change with Integrated Water Resources Management Strategies,” with a key note address by the Secretary. Additionally, the Director of the Ministry’s Climate Change Secretariat spoke at an event on “Scaling up Climate Action: Water and the NDCs” co-organised by GWP with the NDC Partnership.
“This collaboration was one of the milestones that region has been looking forward and we are prepared to provide our fullest cooperation to strengthen this partnership and to maximum utilisation of the collaboration for the benefit of the country,” said Lal Induruwage. Country Coordinator, GWP Sri Lanka is leading the process in collaboration with GWP South Asia Secretariat. GWP South Asia is anticipating to establish similar alliances in other countries of the region, by taking this case as a sample.