MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is to appoint a steering committee to make arrangements for participation in the forthcoming 27th Session of the Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC (COP27) scheduled to be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 7 – 18 November.
The decision was taken at a meeting held on Monday,Sept.26 under the chairmanship of Environment Minister Hafiz Naseer Ahamed at his ministry headquarters in Colombo.
The attendees of Monday’s meeting included Egyptian-ambassador Maged Mosleh, Christian Skoog, Representative UNICEF Sri Lanka Malin Herwig – Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP ,British High Commissioner Sarah Hulton, whose country is the current Chair of the conference and Anil Jasinghe secretary to the ministry of environment.
Speaking to Colombo Times following the meeting, Minister Ahamed said that Sri Lanka has decided to participate in this conference in a big way since it has rich experience in green cultivation and also it’s a country blessed with natural vegetation. Therefore, a steering committee will be appointed to work out the details of arrangements for participation. “ The committee will comprise members from all sectors and people from all walks of life,” the minister added. “ We will launch an awareness programme at a countrywide level to tell the people of the significance of the conference.”
Ambassador Mosleh said his country is ready to host any number of guests from all sectors who can make useful contributions to the success of the meeting.
Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in November, the Adaptation Committee has approved key resources that can help guide governments in assessing their needs and communicating their actions to build resilience to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Such impacts include ever more frequent and severe storms, droughts and floods.
The Adaptation Committee (AC) is the global voice on adaptation to climate change, working to drive coherent UNFCCC action on adaptation worldwide by providing expert guidance, improving outreach, and supporting the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Mariam Allam, the committee’s Co-Chair, said: “We have to act on adaptation now. We have to scale up and we have to move beyond the incremental approaches of adaptation to transformational approaches.”
Reducing risk and impact from climate-related hazards in a system-wide way can only be accomplished by enhanced and coordinated adaptation action. Taking a transformational approach to adaptation includes involving all of society. To aid this response, the AC offers knowledge products that guide Parties to enhance their adaptation planning and implementation in a holistic and multi-sectoral way.
