The primary objective of this workshop was to present and validate the Climate-Smart Green Growth Strategy and Investment Plan with key stakeholders. The workshop utilized presentations in combination with plenary discussions to facilitate inputs from all stakeholders and validate its content. The participants of this workshop stemmed from the National Designated Authority (NDA), policy makers, different sectorial representatives, banks, private sector and civil society.
The welcome address was given by Mr Leel Randeni, Director of the Climate Change Secretariat of the Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka who introduced the event citing its significance as a key milestone in Sri Lanka’s progress towards a resilient and sustainable future, where economic growth is closely intertwined with environmental stewardship. He further elaborated that the strategy presents a comprehensive vision for sustainable development in response to growing challenges to climate change stating that the goal is to become “a nation with healthier ecosystems, stronger livelihoods and sustainable development by adapting climate-smart green-growth principles and low carbon strategies, ensuring the well-being of both present and future generations”.
This was followed by by Diluka Piyasena, the Interim Regional Coordinator of GWP SAS who gave the opening remarks. She explained that the event marks an important day for Sri Lanka and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) who serves as the delivery partner of the 2nd Readiness Project 2021. She reminded the participants that the purpose of the workshop is to validate the draft climate-smart green growth strategy as well as the investment plan for Sri Lanka where the process started an year ago with the vision setting workshop with the same participants as of today. She concluded her remarks by stating that the expectations held by GWP SAS as a GCF delivery partner is to produce strong and deep rooted action plans aligned with the needs and demands of the country’s stakeholders that will benefit the most vulnerable populations in the country.
A brief Introduction to the workshop was given by Anna Deinhard, climate expert and the team lead of the consortium, green werk, supporting the development of the Climate Smart Green Growth Strategy and Investment Plan. She elaborated that “at its core, the strategy serves as a strategic framework for Sri Lanka”, one that comprehensively addresses the opportunities for building resilience in Sri Lanka’s economy, populations, livelihoods, and ecosystems. Moreover, she educated the participants on the objectives of the workshop, stages of the stakeholder engagement process, stages of strategy development, and the strategic framework for Sri Lanka’s Climate-Smart Green Growth strategy among other things.
Soon after the lunch break, the technical session presenting the Climate-Smart Green Growth Strategy and Investment Plan commenced and took place in two sessions. The first session was conducted by Dr Thusitha Sugathapala, Prof Buddhi Marambe, and Prof Pradeepa De Silva who touched upon the overall Climate-Smart Green Growth strategy covering critical areas such as its vision, objectives, the development of the Climate-Smart Green Growth pathways, how to overcome barriers to foster an enabling environment and implementation related arrangements. It was communicated that Sri Lanka has identified three illustrative Green Growth Pathways: green energy, a resource conscious and resilient society and natural capital and ecosystem services. In detailing how to achieve these pathways, the necessary focus areas and key investment programmes were also touched upon during this segment.
The second session was spearheaded by Michel Kohler and Anna Deinhard who dove into the innerworkings and the thought process behind the Investment plan explaining that it is “the tool that is operationalising the strategy.” They further remarked that the hope is for the investment plan to be the first step for the Climate Change Secretariat, the NDA and the GCF to take forward these investments together with the implementing entities that are proposed reach of the investments and develop them further as bankable proposals. This was followed by an open discussion where participants engaged with the experts to provide their inputs and voice both their concerns and queries regarding the proposed strategy and investment plan before the eventual validation of the document.
The closing remarks and vote of thanks was given by Anura Sathurusinghe, the National Project Coordinator of the 2nd NDA Readiness Project, who recognised that the workshop was a success. He thanked all the parties involved in the organisation of the event for their support and guidance, the key speakers for sharing their wisdom and the participants for their active participation and engagement. Further, he communicated that efforts would be made to finalise the document in a week or two and that the next step on the horison is to perform a soft launch of the document by the next United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) that will be held in November. Moreover, he stated that following the coming elections in Sri Lanka, based on the newly elected government’s guidance, efforts will be made to authorise and submit a cabinet paper or document to the parliament to be developed as both a policy and strategy.
