Sri Lanka will also support UN in achieving Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well.
He said President Maithripala Sirisena has already signed the Paris Accord on climate change, in his address to the UN Ocean Conference held in New York USA on June 5.
Prime Minister Wickremsinghe who described the ocean conference as another step in a historic process added that their endeavour was to understand and neutralise the adverse influence caused to mother earth by human civilization.
He recounted that this process began with the UN conference on human environment held at Stockholm in 1972. Since then they had talked much on the responsibility of environmental protection cast on all nations.
Wickremesinghe said his government believed that one aspect should come into special focus at this conference. That aspect was provision of financial resources.
The successful implementation of steps they agree on conservation depended only on the uninterrupted supply of financial resources. The Prime Minister said “We should make a collective effort to build a sustainable ocean economy. It includes features such as aquaculture, obtaining renewable energy from the ocean, improvement of ocean technology as well as eliminating ocean pollution.
The financial contributions received from Governments and donors towards this would be inadequate. Therefore they should find private sector parties and other methods of financial resources towards it. Similarly they ought to find new parties and new co-operation for this massive task.
Island nations like Sri Lanka faced the direct impact of climate change and changes in the natural ocean environment. Sri Lanka had faced several natural disasters during the past decade. The 2004 Tsunami, floods, landslides and other types of disasters were among them. At this very moment hundreds of Sri Lankans have died and several lakhs of people have been displaced by heavy torrential rain and floods. Sri Lanka was extremely thankful for the relief aid received from the members of the international world and community. But one factor was evident from this. That was our inability to face such catastrophies, the Prime Minister said.
“Countries like ours may face life and death at the hands of the ocean. The Indian ocean provides us with food, livelihood, trade opportunities and other facilities. A major part of our population lived in maritime areas. But problems such as the rise in sea level, ocean pollutions and depreciation of fish resources directly impacted on us.
The latest funding is the second largest floating amount of plastic waste is found in the Indian Ocean. Minimising ocean pollution and sustainable use of ocean resources were the biggest challenges facing us in the future. The Prime Minister said: “Our future depended on both our own and your contribution. On account of these global links we as a nation always willingly join international attempts towards environmental conservation.