President Ranil Wickremesinghe has decided to present three special proposals this year (2023) for the United Nations Climate Change Conference – an event referred to as Cop28 which will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The main proposal that will be presented by President Wickremesinghe is to establish a Climate Change University in Sri Lanka.
Apart from that, the President is also going to present proposals to establish a Climate Justice Forum for Third World countries that are inconvenienced by the activities of developed countries and to establish a Tropical Belt Forum for tropical rainforests.
UN Climate Change conferences (COPs) take place every year and are the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change with almost complete membership of every country in the world.
The theme of COP 28 Summit 2023 is ‘Transitioning to Clean Energy’ – fast tracking the energy transition and slashing emissions before 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
Delegates from nearly 200 countries, leaders of business and finance, and representatives of civil society will gather in Dubai from November 30 to December 12 for the climate conference with the aim of fast tracking the transition to a clean-energy future.
There are plans to hold several additional discussions about climate change and debt stabilization during the conference. At the COP28 summit, 20 young people are going to participate under the sponsorship of non-governmental organizations and they will participate in the additional discussions that will be held.
Representing Sri Lanka are President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, Environment Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, MP Patali Champika Ranawaka, Secretary of the Environment Ministry Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Presidential Adviser on Climate Change Ruwan Wijeyawardene and Presidential Foreign Affairs Director Dinuk Colombage, among others. Ruwan Wijewardene stated that another group from the private sector will participate in the conference at their own expense. He also mentioned that the requests brought forward by the ‘Aragalaya’ which was carried out in 2022 were to provide international exposure and experience to the young people in this manner.
Varuna Dayaratne
