RELATIVE ROLES OF CLIMATE AND SOCIETAL FACTORS INWATER SCARCITY AND FLOODINGIN SRI LANKA AND MALDIVESAND ITS IMPLICATIONS
Zeenas Yahiya
Foundation for Environment, Climate and Technology, c/o Mahaweli Authority Maintenance, Digana Village, Rajawella, Sri Lanka.
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ABSTRACT
Three cases that we have studies in Sri Lanka and Maldives illustrate the socio-economic factors and the role of climate change in water scarcity and flooding. The trade-offs, spatial and time scale issues and climate risk and sustainability shall be discussed. First, at a national and district scale in Sri Lanka, we find that there is a strong relationship between climate based drought incidences and drought disaster declarations and relief payments. The details of how these indices are derived and the cross-comparisons with disasters shall be presented. This case demonstrates that even in a country with political conflict, and with government systems under stress that climate drives drought disaster relief. Second, in a rapidly urbanizing region in Sri Lanka, we find that climate is not a driver of the rise in flooding in a sub-catchment (PingaOya) of the Mahaweli River. While there is a relationship between weather and flooding, the rising frequency of floods is not correlated with climate change. Rather anthropogenic activities and poor enforcement of regulations is the cause of floods. Third, in the Maldives, the new government is seeking to move away from climate dependence by encouraging its people to move from water sustenance through encouraging the young to migrate from the approximately 190 islands they inhabitto the HulhumaleIsland where it is constructing desalination plants to provide water. This means that there is higher level of dependence on water supply services. In November 2014 there was a week-long breakdown of the water supply.