Preparing for El Niño

It is encouraging that the President, the Government, and even the Opposition appear to have recognised the seriousness of the impending El Niño phenomenon and the challenges it may bring to Sri Lanka. In a political environment where consensus is often difficult to achieve, the acknowledgement that climate-related threats require urgent national attention is a welcome and necessary development.

However, responding only to the immediate consequences of climate events is no longer sufficient. Sri Lanka must now confront a more uncomfortable reality: climate disruption is no longer an occasional crisis but an enduring condition that will shape our economic, social, and environmental future.

For decades, climate disasters were often viewed as isolated incidents — a severe drought one year, a damaging flood another, or an unusually intense storm once every generation. That assumption no longer holds. Across the world, and increasingly in Sri Lanka, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, more intense, and more unpredictable.

The recent impact of Cyclone Ditwah demonstrated this with painful clarity. A single environmental event was capable of causing widespread damage to lives, homes, infrastructure, agriculture, livelihoods, and public finances. Beyond the immediate human suffering, such disasters place enormous pressure on national resources, interrupt economic activity, and slow development for months, sometimes years. The country has yet to recover from this incident despite more than half a year having passed.

Sri Lanka cannot afford to continue treating each disaster as a separate emergency. Instead, national planning must begin from a different assumption: climate instability is now permanent, and environmental shocks will occur regularly. This may even account for the profound changes in the monsoon patterns upon which our civilisation has long been based.

National policy must therefore move beyond short-term relief packages and emergency interventions. Disaster resilience should become a central pillar of economic planning, infrastructure development, agriculture, water management, energy policy, and urban expansion.

Infrastructure projects should be designed to withstand increasingly volatile weather conditions. Irrigation and water storage systems must anticipate prolonged dry periods as well as intense rainfall. Agricultural policies must support climate-resilient crops and provide farmers with insurance and adaptation tools. Urban planning should prioritise flood mitigation, drainage systems, and sustainable land use.

Equally important is economic resilience. Climate disasters increasingly carry substantial fiscal costs. Recovery spending, damaged exports, disrupted tourism, and weakened agricultural output all reduce national economic capacity. Preparing in advance may appear expensive, but repeatedly rebuilding after preventable damage is far costlier.

The private sector must also be brought into this conversation. Businesses should be encouraged to invest in resilience measures and climate adaptation strategies. Financial institutions should develop mechanisms that support long-term climate preparedness rather than merely financing post-disaster recovery.

Public awareness is another essential component. Communities that understand climate risks and preparedness measures are far better positioned to minimise losses when disasters occur.

The challenge before Sri Lanka is therefore larger than managing El Niño. It is about recognising that climate change has fundamentally altered the environment in which the country develops and governs.

The emerging political consensus around this issue should not end with statements of concern or temporary action plans. It must translate into a sustained national strategy that recognises climate disruption as an ongoing reality.