By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW):The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be supporting Sri Lanka and other Asia and the Pacific address issues pertaing to climate change and conserve environment with out polluting the air with carboin emmsions.
The funds will go to the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific, through which the ADB plans to extend loans of up to US$15 billion for incentivizing action on the issue in a region that is vulnerable to climate-related disasters.
Japan will contribute $25 million to help countries in the Asia-Pacific region address the issue of climate change via a new financing mechanism by the Asian Development Bank.
Realizing the impending necessity to address the impact of climate change on the island nation, the Sri Lankan Government has collaborated with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop a national adaptation strategy to mitigate the effects of a changing climate.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is supporting the Government of Sri Lanka’s initiative to focus on climate change adaptation through the provision of a technical assistance (TA) grant titled “Strengthening Capacity for Climate Change Adaptation.
The assistance is provided through the Climate Change Secretariat (CCS) of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MENR).
“In recent years, the region has frequently suffered damage from extreme weather events and large-scale natural disasters caused by climate change.
Therefore, a balanced approach toward adaptation, in addition to mitigation measures, is also essential,” Finance Minister of Japan Shunichi Suzuki said at a meeting of the ADB’s board of governors.
Suzuki also emphasized the need to achieve “ambitious” net zero emissions targets while preventing or managing trade-offs between climate action and other important development objectives in areas such as health and education.
Besides Japan, Denmark, South Korea, Sweden, Britain and the United States are the initial partners of the ADB’s new financing scheme.
More than 40 percent of all climate-related disasters that have occurred in this century took place in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the ADB, which has set a goal of providing $100 billion in climate financing to developing member states between 2019 and 2030.
Climate change is among the key agendas for Japan, which holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven. Other areas considered important include issues related to debt and the provision of universal health coverage.
