Secretary General Prof Celeste Saulo,
Dr Stefan Uhlenbrook
Excellencies, Friends,
I’m deeply honoured to have been invited to speak at the launch of WMO’s State of Global Water Resources Report 2023. I would like to start by congratulating the WMO team for the hard work that must have gone into producing this Report.
Its contents will be immensely beneficial in helping us to understand the status of water resources in different parts of the world, to identify challenges and mitigate their impact.
I am also happy to learn that Sri Lanka has contributed to this Report with river flow data[1] and also participated in its review process.
Water is key to life.
However, increasing water usage and human interventions over the years have depleted water resources globally, resulting in extreme climatic conditions and disasters. Decreasing sources of freshwater can also trigger conflict. Assessing and understanding the hydrological patterns, as provided for in this Report, can help us to make better informed decisions and policies.
My own region, South Asia, is highly vulnerable to disasters such as floods, landslides and droughts which are becoming more and more frequent. This Report provides information that can help us to understand Regional Hydrological Patterns so as to develop water management strategies to mitigate hydro meteorological disasters.
Information sharing for this kind of initiative also allows regional networks to strengthen leading the way for regional responses and strategies to address common challenges.
Allow me now to highlight a few points about the water resources of my own country, Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is a tropical island, where rainfall is the main source of water. Annual rainfall is approximately 2000 mm which gives us about 130 billion cubic meters of water annually. We also have a network of rivers flowing from the central highlands with about 103 river basins covering most parts (about 90%) of the country. Due to spatial variations, it is extremely important to develop water storage and conveyance of rainwater.
King Parakramabahu the Great who ruled Sri Lanka in the 12th century (1123-1186) famously said that ‘not even one drop of rain water should be allowed to flow to the sea without being made useful to man’. This is the ethos that has given Sri Lanka the vast network of reservoirs and canals from ancient times, some of which are still functioning, to store and distribute rainwater that has enabled agricultural activity in the dry zone of the country.
The large number of these ancient village tanks and reservoirs, allow a constant flow of water for agriculture, even during droughts. This constant supply of water is essential for paddy cultivation, given that rice is the staple food in Sri Lanka, and rice is a very water intensive crop. The ancient reservoirs were built in a unique system called the cascading system, where a network of thousands of small irrigation tanks draining into a large reservoir storing rainwater for later use.
This system also enriched and maintained the ground water table, providing many foods (fish, lotus roots etc.) and controlling floods and drainage. Hence it was a very sustainable method, serving the common good and benefiting an entire community.
We have about 106 major reservoirs with a total water storage capacity of around 10 Billion Cubic Meters. Roughly speaking, nearly 1 Million acres are cultivated for 2 seasons a year under major and medium irrigation schemes mainly using the waters of these reservoirs.
There are many challenges as well.
Domestic requirements for water, and major economic sectors including agriculture and hydro-power generation continue to rely heavily on water resources leading to its fast depletion. It is estimated that by 2040 Sri Lanka will need at least 2 billion cubic meters of water to meet the expected water demand. Another challenge is to restore the water quality of the sources where rivers and reservoirs are rapidly degrading due to pollution. These factors are also affecting the ground water in the country, particularly in coastal areas.
So in short, increasing human activity has led to the depletion and degradation of our water resources over the years: and Climate change has aggravated this situation as we are seeing an ever-increasing number of hydro meteorological disasters such as floods, landslides and droughts, leading to increased loss and damage. There is also a need to improve our hydro meteorological data base with data density and collection mechanisms, to address present day requirements, including flood and drought forecasting and early warning.
This brings me back to the Global Water Resources Report.
This Report encourages data sharing and technological advances that can lead to better insights and responses. It is a tool that can be used to asses and understand the problems we are all facing with regard to water resources. Water scarcity is fast becoming a global issue, and this Report provides the data to identify the problem areas and make informed policy decisions so that we can try and find collective solutions. It is also important to have regional level monitoring and mitigation for more effective responses to common problems.
Sri Lanka is happy to have been involved in this timely and important initiative and to have contributed to the data pool.
Going forward, I think there is potential for stronger regional efforts to develop early warning systems and sharing data and technology. These are the opportunities this Report provides.
Thank you once again for the invitation to share Sri Lanka’s perspectives.
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[1] Kelani, Kalu, Gin, Walawe, Mahaweli, Malwathu Oya, Yan Oya, Madury Oya and Attanagalu Oya.
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