More than 300,000 Sri Lankans were displaced due to floods, and 700,000 affected. Damages to properties amounted to USD 3,000 million due to the drastic change in the Climate in 2017 alone, says a senior environmentalist.

Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Executive Director Hemantha Withanage told The Island that in 2017 Sri Lanka was placed second on the list of the most affected countries.

Expressing concern particularly over increasing freak weather, he stressed that successive governments had failed to address pressing environmental issues.

Withanage said the government had not raised enough public awareness of the dangerous consequences of climate change and it had not been taken seriously in Sri Lanka.

 "People aren’t aware of the climate emergency the planet is facing. If the government does not do this who would? There is not enough time as the planet is decaying and we have to work harder and faster to reduce the impacts of Climate Change. By now due to the effects of Climate Change there are so many issues. The use of fossil fuel combustion, Industrialization, Igniting forest fires on purpose which cause atmospheric pollution were the reason why the temperatures around the world are increasing. The rise in sea levels, flash floods, and increase in diseases is some of the side effects of climate change that people around the world are already experiencing..

"Nearly 8.1 million species live in this world and due to the wrong doings of man every living being has to face the consequences of climate Change" .

"In 1992 The UN, according to their climate change framework suggested that countries should reduce their emission of greenhouse gasses but the opposite has happened.

"Due to the emission of these greenhouse gases the temperature can increase by 1.5 Celsius in the next few years. The sea levels can increase by one metre or even more. So by the year 2050 a population of 750 million would become climate refugees."

The Island