Page 2 - Professor Munasinghe News Today

Who are good, and to give you an example, taking on military expenditures, $2 trillion, that is the bad private sector which is making huge profits on armaments, but they are the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. nobody challenges the military in any country saying, "your greenhouse gas emissions are high. "reduce it." but they will go after the small person. thank you. applause hemantha, did you want to respond on the private sector? we say, roles for business, rights for people. - we say, ...

Countries to put money. and, of course, although ini copenhagen, the countries — developed countries agreed . to put us$100 billion annually, that money didnt come, i still the green climate fund is only having 11.9 billion. so, adaptation fund, $800... $998 million by now. so theres no money coming l from the developed countries. even if we are planning to get some money from the loss i and damage money, its not going to come sooner. - but this is something very, very urgent. . 0k. all right....

Answering questions from my audience here. let me tell you whos in the hot seat for this edition of global questions. ruwan wijewardene is deputy leader of the united national party, and is the presidents right—hand adviser on climate change. he recently launched a climate prosperity plan to tackle the crippling effects of the climate crisis. professor mohan munasinghe is an eminent sri lankan climate scientist. he was vice—chair of the un international panel on climate change when, as an in...

Absolutely. we are engaging with the private sector as well, and it is absolutely essential that we do, because when we do engage with the private sector, they bring in innovation, they bring in technology, and of course theyre more efficient than working with the government. but it is essential, and the government has been working with the private sector very closely, and one way is also to bring in investments, as well as to predict the environment through these investments. professor munasing...

Yes, the question is, is the private sector part of the problem or is it part of the solution? id like to believe the second, that we have to work towards it, because the private sector is very big, and you cannot exclude that, so some of them are good and some of them are not. you have to work with those who are good, and to give you an example, taking on military expenditures, $2 trillion, that is the bad private sector which is making huge profits on armaments, but they are the biggest emitte...

Thank you, natasha. ok, im going to take a couple of questions together now that are slightly related. lets go to your first, tuan. my question is — producing vegetables and fruits has been on the priority list of our honourable president, and since six months, there is no progress actually in this field. rohan, your question, please. thank you. my question is — climate is a science, so are we really using science, including the technologies to combat climate change ? thank you. thank you ve...

In decision—making roles is clearly visible, what are some things you have done to bridge this gap? climate diplomacy is critical to ensure equitable and collaborative climate action. how can sri lanka or south asia get started on this? all right, very quickly, gentleman, final points. professor munasinghe. 0k. ifully agree. this is the world that we are inheriting, which we have created, is not very sustainable and its up to the young people to use modern technologies and so on to solve it, s...

But i think we need rapid i investment in these sectors if we want to really... yeah, but youre not going to get that rapid investment given the economic crisis here in the country... exactly. ..when people are struggling to put food on the table, right? so hes not given the government a very good scorecard there. ok, professor munasinghe, how would you answer this question? i pick up on your last point — i think we are going through a severe economic crisis. so i agree with the ambitious long...

Is only having 11.9 billion. so, adaptation fund, 800... 998 million by now. so theres no money coming l from the developed countries. even if we are planning to get some money from the loss i and damage money, its not going to come sooner. - but this is something very, very urgent. . 0k. all right. i mean, there is going to be a lot of competition for limited funds. exactly. so, basically, what hemanthas saying, professor munasinghe, is talking about accountability of these funds if they came t...

Of the climate crisis. professor mohan munasinghe is an eminent sri lankan climate scientist. he was vice—chair of the un international panel on climate change when, as an institution, it was awarded the 2007 nobel peace prize with al gore for efforts to combat climate change. and hemantha withanage is chair of friends of the earth international. he co—founded the centre for environmentaljustice, one of the most visible environmental organisations here in sri lanka. thats our panel. welcome ...