The Hon. Asitha Niroshana Egoda Vithana

¶ 01 Madam Deputy Chairperson of Committees, I am pleased to comment on the motion by Hon. Hector Appuhamy, who as an Opposition MP has brought forward an issue of governance for the future—climate change, vulnerable states, affected populations, and the global implications for human continuity.

¶ 02 We live on the only known life‑supporting planet. Powerful states, driven by narrow interests, have plundered resources and endangered all ecosystems. The 74 vulnerable countries bear disproportionate costs. Greenhouse gas emissions have led to frequent extreme events—heavy rains, landslides, floods and cyclones—affecting many nations.

¶ 03 The UNFCCC came in 1993, followed by the Kyoto Protocol in 2005 and the Paris Agreement in 2016. Sri Lanka, frequently hit by natural disasters, is bound to act under these accords. We face floods several times a year; politicians hand out relief packs, making it political, while people live in landslide‑prone areas. According to the Disaster Management Ministry’s 2021 report, about 1.3 million people were affected by floods, landslides, winds, fires and lightning; 184 deaths, 90 injuries, 3,791 partial and 96 total house damages were recorded.

¶ 04 We had a Climate Resilience Improvement Program (CRIP) with hundreds of millions of dollars, including a structured plan to mitigate Kelani River floods, but unfortunately the main project was cancelled in 2018. On carbon markets under the Paris Agreement, there is a new global discourse: carbon trading as a new asset class. Yet we still lack firm national decisions. We must study evolving conditions and future needs to determine how important carbon trading will be for Sri Lanka.

¶ 05 Aligned with the “Clean Sri Lanka” program and Paris commitments, we have conducted numerous consultations and will soon take a national plan to Cabinet. Next year we aim to implement it under the Paris Agreement. Under the leadership of the Hon. Prime Minister, we are preparing a structured mechanism to mitigate Kelani River floods affecting Colombo District, along with necessary development projects. We are working swiftly to manage these risks. Thank you for the opportunity.