Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Sunday Dec 15, 2024
Monday, 30 September 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
“Sri Lanka is ranked second in a report that considers countries most affected by climate change in the year 2017 as per the Global Climate Risk Index 2019,” said Dr. Erandathi Lokupitiya of the University of Colombo, guest speaker at Cinnamon Grand’s climate change awareness session for hotel associates.
She reiterated that the warning from nature is loud and clear, and that countries cannot ignore them, wherever they are. “Each individual has a part to play in preventing further damage through individual and collective action,” she said on a more positive note, on how we can prevent this detrimental trend.
The session, which was organised Cinnamon Grand’s Sustainability, Health and Compliance department, was aimed at reinforcing the commitment required to assist in efforts that are being made to redress climate change at local, national and global levels.
Dr. Lokupitiya said that the world was in the midst of a critical global environmental emergency. The warnings of climate change made by experts in the past have now become a current reality. She highlighted that nature-based solutions were necessary to address major societal challenges, from food and water security, climate change, human health, to resilience.
“The hottest month on record, the melting arctic glaciers, deadly heatwaves, and even closer to home, flash floods, prolonged droughts, the rise of diseases and disease carrying pests and bacteria – are some of the more dire outcomes of the changing climate of our planet,” she said.
The insightful seminar also talked about the ending of the use of fossil fuels and the need for a new era of clean, renewable energy that would greenhouse gas emissions fail to match the severity of the crisis by a factor of five.
In addition, topics such as decarbonising our economies, better consumer driven choices such as disuse of single use plastics and polythene, better water management, forest conservation, etc. were other areas that were discussed. Associates from the different departments of the hotel attended the event.
