In a seminar on 19 January 2017, jointly organized by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo and KAS RECAP, researchers from the RCSS presented the main findings of a KAS-funded study on “Energy Security and Climate Change in South Asia: a Threat Analysis for Sri Lanka” in Colombo.

Moderated by Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed, Director of RCSS, the panel discussion was also introduced by Dr. Peter Hefele, Director of KAS RECAP, Dr. Sarala Fernando, a former Sri Lanka Foreign Service Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Ms. Una McCauley, Resident Coordinator of United Nations in Sri Lanka and Mr. Jeevan Thiagarajah, Chairman of the Institute for Human Rights.

The seminar examined the following issues, which are closely associated with climate change in Sri Lanka.

• Renewable energy (RE): Sri Lanka has lots of potential to deploy renewable energies in a large scale to limit the effects of climate change. Yet, institutional and policy frameworks to enable the growth of REs have to be improved.
• Disaster management: The analysis of human security dimensions in climate-induced disaster management draws special attention to the deficits of immediate state and non-state interventions.
• Gender issues: Women are regarded as one of the vulnerable groups in climate change, as majority of them is taking the responsibility to secure weather-dependent food, water and energy for daily use in rural areas.

For these challenges, the panelists made specific recommendations. In general, there is a need to raise awareness about climate threats and climate affected population among stakeholders especially policymakers. The country should develop and implement coherent and comprehensive preparation plans for climate threats and potential natural disasters. State and non-state actors including the private sector and think tanks could play a stronger role in stimulating the development of renewable energies such as via contributing their financial resources and knowledge.

The study will be released soon on www.kas.de.