Dr Ananda Mallawatantri, Country Representative, IUCN Sri Lanka contributes as panelist of an event focusing youth and women in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

The consultation “Visions, strategies and actions for youth and women in SDG” was organized by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Wildlife and UN FPA, from 14-15 February, 2017 at the Water’s Edge in Battaramulla. IUCN Country Representative, Dr Ananda Mallawatantri participated in the panel discussion on “Indicators, Baseline Data, Monitoring & Reporting for SDGs.”

Dr Mallawatantri highlighted the value of deciding what the country wants in terms of economic growth and the understanding on the pressure on natural capital due to higher level of ecosystem exploitations for resources. He advocated to engage youth more in nature-based activities to provide a better feel and appreciation of the nature’s contribution to the sustainability of fauna, flora, air, water and soil resources which will ultimately decide the sustainability of humans.

With regard to the national planning processes and monitoring of SDGs, he proposed to identify Sri Lanka indicators that can be easily linked to global indictors on SDGs while also revisiting the Key Performance Indictors (KPIs) adopted in the Government Agencies and Ministries for in-country reporting. Dr. Mallawatantri also indicated the need improve coordination among Government Agencies as there are a significant room to improve coordination and targeting of resources and knowledge for sustainable development.