Academics rise to the challenge with sustainable solutions

Sri Lanka’s worst post-war economic crisis represents a major blow to the country’s progress towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), efforts that were already hobbled by the COVID pandemic. However, the situation is also providing impetus to the work of academics who are using their knowledge to tackle the immediate fallout from the crisis, in addition to longer-term sustainability goals.

In the wake of the economic crisis, the UN World Food Programme has switched the warning lights from amber to red on food insecurity in Sri Lanka, explaining that 37% of the population are food insecure and 70% are just coping, including by managing on less food.

Deepthi Wickramasinghe, conservation biologist and professor at the University of Colombo, said university students from rural areas studying at the University of Colombo were cutting down on their food intake to make ends meet.

In September, Sri Lanka’s cost of living index climbed to a new high of 70%, up from 66.2% in 2020.

“Students from rural areas cannot afford the higher food and living prices in Colombo city,” she said.

Wickramasinghe predicted ongoing problems in the coming year. “With poverty increasing in the country, Sri Lanka will certainly not be able to make progress to achieve its targets by 2030,” she said.

Sri Lanka is currently ranked 76th among 163 countries in the SDG Index ranking, according to UN official statistics. This is noteworthy and is despite the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns that hit the economy from 2020 and the Easter 2019 fatal bomb blast that rocked the country’s strong tourism industry, which accounts for 30% of gross domestic product.

Setback for SDGs

Wickramasinghe points to a widening income gap between the rich and poor. “The [economic] crisis has raised the importance of assessing regional SDG progress rather than relying on national statistics,” she said.

“Against looming poverty and hunger, the priority in Sri Lanka’s SDG activities should be on support for vulnerable populations – children and the elderly, especially in the low-income sectors,” said Anoma Chandrasekara, a professor in the department of applied nutrition and faculty of livestock, fisheries and nutrition at Wayamba University of Sri Lanka in the country’s northwest.

Worldwide, SDG progress has been dented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Wickramasinghe said the toll on Sri Lanka, saddled with a huge debt and political uncertainty, is heavy. Imports are restricted to save foreign exchange, and fuel shortages have created major problems, including pushing up public transportation prices, directly affecting poorer populations.

The pandemic has also forced the return of Sri Lankan migrant workers from abroad, dealing a severe blow to an important national revenue earner. Migrant workers overseas accounted for a high level of foreign income in the form of remittances.

The country now faces challenges achieving ‘Zero hunger’ (SDG 2) and ‘Decent work and economic growth’ (SDG 8) by 2030. The national accumulated debt is estimated at US$51 billion and the country faced a sovereign default in April 2022.

In 2019 Sri Lanka was defined as an upper middle-income country by the World Bank but has already lost that status and in 2020 was classified a lower middle-income country. The country has embarked on major infrastructure developments supported by foreign lenders.

In its April Macro Poverty Outlook for Sri Lanka report, the World Bank predicted that the poverty rate would increase to 11.7% in 2022 compared to 10% in 2019. The country faces an external financing gap in 2022 and beyond, which calls for a reduction of its fiscal deficits by increasing domestic revenue, according to the Washington DC-based institution.

In addition, the World Bank report highlighted rising inflation linked to high consumer prices. Public unrest against the government continues to simmer as people struggle to survive. Major protests which began in March this year have been met with government crackdowns.

Human rights violations, especially recent arrests of peaceful protesters in Colombo, have also caused Sri Lanka to deteriorate in terms of SDG 16, ‘Peace, justice and strong institutions’.

A report from an Amnesty International researcher on economic, social and cultural rights released this month titled We Are Near Total Breakdown also pointed to life-threatening shortages of medicine, such as antibiotics and insulin, and essential equipment.

Food gardens

Agriculture has been badly hit. With almost half the population engaged directly or indirectly in that sector, this will mean that progress on SDG 1 (No poverty) will backslide further.

There is a push among universities and other organisations to increase home gardening as a vital source of sustainable agriculture and which could also contribute to the ‘Zero hunger’ SDG goal.

Home gardens, mostly aimed at supplementing market-bought food, occupy 13% of the land in Sri Lanka, and have been cultivated for decades. They became popular during the pandemic-related lockdowns when people were restricted to their homes.

“To survive we need to eat, and with increasing prices, growing our own food that can provide the necessary proteins and other nutrients is the way forward,” said Visakha Tillekeratne, a nutrition expert involved in a research project started with Wayamba University of Sri Lanka in 2019.

“The aim is to encourage people to cultivate a home garden that will provide a good diet. This is a concept [that has] grown out of the pandemic and economic crisis,” said Tillekeratne, who supports rural communities.

Supported by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Chandrasekara and her team spearheaded a study on guidelines for a new home garden model based on technical and dietary reviews.

Chandrasekara has researched the bioactivities such as antioxidant and glucose response actions of phenolic compounds to ascertain the nutritional value of under-utilised tropical foods, including cereals, legumes, roots and tubers, herbs and condiments.

Green financing

Nimal Gunatilleke, emeritus professor and a forest biologist conducting conservation research at the University of Peradeniya, is also a promoter of home-grown funding models to support rural livelihoods.

His research backs the promotion of ‘green labelling’ for local, organically grown foods which contribute to sustainability and improvement of rural livelihoods through traditional cottage industries. ‘Green labelling’ helps smallholder farmers to compete against large plantations that also damage local biodiversity.

Based on his research, he is a leading advocate of additional green financing options beyond Sri Lanka’s traditional approach of loans, grants and national spending measures, which, he said, can reduce the day-to-day impact of the debt crisis. He pointed to the need to rely on other sources of income, apart from a bail-out by the International Monetary Fund currently being discussed by the government.

Gunatilleke has played a role in the development of Sri Lanka’s Biodiversity Finance Plan established by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 2018 to promote green financing as a sustainable financing solution for agriculture, land use and conservation.

He advocates the design and development of innovative ways of green financing such as green bonds, sustainable bonds, climate bonds, etc, that can bring direct benefits to smallholders who are the lifeblood of the Sri Lankan economy.

Experts have identified that issuing green bonds and ‘debts for climate’ swap scheme payments for conservation – such as watershed management in the central highlands that is crucial for sustaining water resources – can secure both public and private sector engagement.

Gunatilleke contends that ecological schemes are an innovative financial solution to the twin crises of climate change and debt distress in Sri Lanka. “It is a means to mobilise a large amount of financial resources and represents a new source of financing,” he told University World News.

Sri Lanka has in place most of its key development strategies and plans for the next several years in conformity with the major global conventions on biodiversity, he explained. “The current [economic] adversity is an opportunity to gain the interest of donor agencies in entering green financing partnerships,” he said.