Climate Action Network South Asia in partnership with Climate Action Network Europe and hosted by Development Alternatives together will conduct a four-day Summit entitled Strengthen Linkages between EU-South Asia Networks on Addressing Climate Impacts from March 24 to 27 in Orchha, India.

The sessions for the day included climate change and the post-2015 sustainable development goals, impacted community voices, expectations from Lima towards Paris and a discussion on areas for co-operation. 

Speaking on integrating climate change and development in South Asia was Janathakshan  Member of the Board of Directors, Ranga Pallawala. 

“While Nepal and Bangladesh have already begun their National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPA), governments have been demotivated due to lack of funding. In Sri Lanka, we have no ambitious plans in terms of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) as there are no adequate resources to integrate this to the development process,” said Ranga Pallawala.  

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process approved the preparation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by Developing Countries. As part of NAPs, each country has a National Steering Committee appointed to liaise and drive the strategy forward. Pallawala is also a Member of the of the Board of Directors Climate Action Network South Asia.

He went on to say that the region was looking into the decentralisation of power to governments be it provincial, state and so on, and pointed out that these opportunities should be capitalised on to integrate climate change to development strategies. 

The Summit will also advocate the requirement for sustainable development to improve capacity of Non-State Actors in decision-making processes related to climate change policies, promote partnership and facilitate interactions and exchanges between the stakeholders.

CANSA is a coalition of 112 civil society organisations from South Asia, demanding that all countries ratify the second commitment period of Kyoto protocol by 2015. CANSA strives actively towards the protection of the global climate in a manner that promotes equity and social justice between people, sustainable development and protection of the environment.