GREY:NEVDQ - Post by User
Post by
bogfiton Apr 04, 2022 11:39am
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Is Sri Lanka the canary in the coal mine?
Is Sri Lanka the canary in the coal mine? "Sri Lanka’s entire cabinet aside from the president and his sibling prime minister resigned from their posts on Sunday as the ruling political clan seeks to resolve a mounting economic crisis, with a social media blackout failing to halt another day of anti-government demonstrations.
The south Asian nation is facing severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials – along with record inflation and crippling power cuts – in its most painful downturn since independence from Britian in 1948.
All 26 ministers in the cabinet aside from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother the prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, submitted letters of resignation at a late-night meeting, the education minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, told reporters."
Sri Lanka’s cabinet resigns as protesters’ anger grows over economic crisis | Sri Lanka | The Guardian
"The severity of weather-related disasters in Sri Lanka is extreme since flash floods and prolonged droughts are much higher and more frequent than in other countries (IMF, 2018). In Sri Lanka, average annual losses from natural disasters between 1998 and 2012 were US$ 380 million, with losses due to flooding and cyclones being the most significant contributors (Siriwardana et al., 2018). Floods, landslides, droughts and storms accounted for 74% of the total disaster occurrences during the 1990–2018 period (UNDRR, 2019). Studies have claimed that such high climate variances were due to both La Nia and El Nio extremes (Sumathipala, 2014; Hapuarachchi and Jayawardena, 2015; Jayawardene et al., 2015; Abeysekera et al., 2019). Moreover, Sri Lanka is vulnerable to climate change impacts such as upsurges in temperature, changes in rainfall patterns, seawater rise and extreme weather events (Mani et al., 2018). Conversely, Sri Lanka’s hidden climate hotspots are at high risk from climate change impacts and are located around agricultural areas, with the North, North Central, Western and North Western provinces being the most adversely affected (The World Bank, 2018)."
Climate change and food security in Sri Lanka: towards food sovereignty | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (nature.com)
We should pay attention to Sri Lanka although not a major mining interest, but perhaps as a harbinger of what is to come throughout the sub-tropics. b.