Sri Lanka’s largest conversation on green development kicks off
Daily FT: Sri Lanka’s largest conversation on green development will kick off under a multi-stakeholder initiative.
The Ministry of Environment together with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Sri Lanka and other co-convening partners will present the Colombo Development Dialogues on Green Development, comprising of a series of dialogues to support the policy positioning of green development, and reaffirm Sri Lanka’s climate and environmental commitments in the course of developmental aspirations.
The dialogues will take place across four sessions from 12 to 22 October via Zoom and will straddle four key thematic areas: The Sri Lankan Narrative for Green Development; Innovation, Stewardship and Human Agency; Green Financing; and a Multistakeholder Approach to Green Development. For more info, see www.cdd.undp.lk.
UNDP said rapid socio-economic, technological, environmental, and other changes around the world have posed unprecedented challenges to us all. These challenges are especially pertinent against the backdrop of climate change, increased urbanisation and widening inequalities, coupled with the ramifications of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, this has also amplified the need for countries to re-align their economic recovery efforts to include green-centric development policies.
The dialogues will focus on core thematic areas of green development, and help frame narratives on innovative policymaking, sustainable financing, and multi-stakeholder collaboration which will allow key stakeholders including government counterparts, policymakers, private sector collaborators and civil society among others, to articulate policy underpinnings to support the formulation of a National Framework for Green Development in Sri Lanka.
The multi stakeholder platform, together with the policy dialogue series, will complement and support the work of the Presidential Task Force for the ‘Creation of a Green Sri Lanka with Sustainable Solutions for Climate Change’ led by the Ministry of Environment, to enable cohesive and coordinated efforts to support the national green development agenda.
The series will feature a lineup of over 35 local and international speakers, including the COP26 Regional Ambassador, UN Assistant Secretary-General, senior government leaders, development partners and others.
OSL take:
The government of Sri Lanka has placed much attention to converting the country into a blue and green economy that addresses all sustainable development goals. While promoting organic agriculture, Sri Lanka is also in the process of increasing the country’s energy mix to 70% renewable energy by 2030. All these have expanded business/investment opportunities in all key economic sectors in Sri Lanka. The ongoing dialogue will further expand the business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. The island with its geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean, the many trade agreements as well as concessions enjoyed by and the ongoing development programme have placed it as an emerging business destination in the South Asian region.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/12102021/Z_8 |