A multistakeholder forum on ‘Empowering Estate and Rural Communities for Climate and Disaster Resilience and Social Equity’ convened at the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) in Colombo on 5 June 2026. The discussion revealed the inadequate infrastructure especially related to early warning, amplified community vulnerability far beyond the immediate disaster impact of cyclone ‘Ditwah’, and advocated for community-centred solutions.

This forum, initiated under the GPPAC Climate, Peace, and Security (CLIMPSE) project, was held in collaboration with GPPAC-Sri Lanka counterpart organizations; the National Peace Council (NPC), the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Women & Media Collective (WMC), Viluthu, and the Association of War Affected Women (AWAW). It brought together policymakers, academics, civil society representatives, journalists, disaster risk management experts, and community members, which included a representation of women and youth from cyclone ‘Ditwah’ affected communities.

RCSS Executive Director Ambassador (Retd.) Ravinatha Aryasinha, who opened the forum, situated the deliberation within the broader CLIMPSE project, which lay at the intersections of climate change, disaster risk, social equity, and peacebuilding. He said Sri Lanka’s contribution to this project had particular value, as it featured two recent case studies carried out by researchers from the RCSS and the NPC, which examined the aftermath of Cyclone ‘Ditwah’, which was identified as the second-deadliest disaster in Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami, affecting 2.3 million people and killing 639.

Professor Mallika Joseph, Regional Coordinator for GPPAC (South Asia), joining the discussion virtually from India, introduced GPPAC as a civil society network headquartered in The Hague with 15 regional networks, of which South Asia is one of the strongest, particularly in terms of gender focal points. The CLIMPSE project builds on previous civil society work to foreground peacebuilders’ perspectives on climate change, moving beyond purely ecological or environmental framings.

The first case study by Ms. Chamika Wijesuriya, Research/Programme Officer RCSS, focused on the Malaiyaha Tamil community in the Upcot region in the Nuwera Eliya district observed that as climate change intensifies, estate and rural communities face compounding vulnerabilities. While the field work revealed that only 45% of displaced persons found camp conditions they were residing in post-Ditwah marginally satisfactory, problems continue including acute water insecurity, landslide risk, infrastructural deficits, exploitative labour conditions, and systemic exclusion from policy processes. She emphasized that while “Cyclone Ditwah did not create the vulnerability of the Malaiyaha Tamil community, it revealed the consequences of unresolved land and labour rights and administrative marginalization within the plantation regions, primarily driven by structural and institutional factors rather than by disaster events alone”. Bridging grassroots traditional knowledge with high-level policy frameworks was essential for achieving durable and equitable outcomes. Community members from the estates who attended the meeting in person, shared testimonies about the ongoing displacement, damaged homes, lack of support, and uncertainty about where to go, and what to do with their children.

In the second case study, Sampath Randunna, Senior Project Officer NPC, focused on the post-cyclone impacts and recovery challenges in Hasalaka in the Kandy District, where loss of family members and long-term disruptions caused profound social and psychological impacts. 52% of the community participants had no official disaster warning prior to cyclone. 56% of affected community members were not consulted at all about relocation decisions. He further noted that traditional and local knowledge of climate trends (rainfall, erosion, water shifts) is disappearing with older generations. Early warning systems were noted as critically important; with community-based systems and trusted local actors essential for last-mile communication. A community member who also participated, highlighted the loss of members of 13 families in Nelummala Gama, when the whole village went under the rubble from the landslide. Another community member, a monk, shared the traumatic details of losing 7 members of his own family, and the difficulty faced by the next of kin in receiving compensation, particularly on account of being members of religious orders.

Subsequently a 3 member Panel of Experts amplified both the causes of the problems and the efforts being made to overcome them, including the practical difficulties faced in this regard. Anoja Senevirathna, Disaster Risk Management Expert, commented on the lack of awareness of the public about disaster risk reduction. She impressed the need for a rights-based approach where the community and people are aware of disaster and climate change impacts and take informed and responsible steps to build their own resilience, such as digitizing their important documents. She noted that the establishment of a well-structured national loss and damage recording system is essential for Sri Lanka to systematically document the impacts of climate change. Reliable and evidence-based data will strengthen the country’s ability to advocate for international support, mobilize climate finance, and access adaptation and compensation mechanisms to address climate-induced losses and damages effectively.

Professor Udayangani Kulatunga, Former Director, Centre for Disaster Risk Reduction, University of Moratuwa, highlighted the need for a clear hazard warning from one single authority and the need to increase basic awareness about evacuation among the public, including evacuation packs and pre-mapped routes. She noted that evacuation centers must also be sensitive to socio-cultural dimensions of communities.

Dilrukshi Handunnetti, Co-Founder/Director, Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and Co-Convenor, South Asia Journalism Collective (SAJC), commented on the critical role of investigative journalism in holding institutions accountable, amplifying community voices, and ensuring that the lived realities of climate-affected populations inform public discourse and policymaking. She also noted that heat stress is an emerging climate risk with no current advisory system or national vulnerability profile in Sri Lanka. The failure of early warning systems to reach the most marginalized communities due to language barriers, digital inequality, and lack of community-level communication infrastructure, was also highlighted.

Ms. Kumudini Samuel, Director (Programs and Research), Women & Media Collective (WMC) problematised the prolonged implementation of the State of Public Emergency and the Essential Public Services Act, enacted post-Cyclone Ditwah. Ms. Visaka Dharmadasa, Founder and Chair of Association of War Affected Women (AWAW) expressed that there should be investigation of environmental impacts of development projects in the Central Province.

An open discussion followed which highlighted a number of failures in Sri Lanka’s climate and disaster resilience, including the lack of initiative regarding accountability and disaster risk mitigation, lack of accountability for development projects that were conducted without proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the failure of early warning systems to reach marginalized communities, lack of community consultation in relocation decisions, digital inequality, accountability gaps in disaster governance, and the need for people-centered climate resilience. The need for integrated reform combining land tenure, infrastructure investment, community participation, and institutional accountability. The participants agreed to advocate for the policy recommendations arising from both case studies and push for the institutionalization of participatory decision-making in relocation and recovery planning at local and national levels. Furthermore, the need to explore mechanisms for public expenditure tracking in disaster recovery funding was also expressed as important. The forum concluded with remarks underscoring the significance of fundamental commitment to inclusion, equity, and community agency.