Sri Lanka: SDG 6.5.1 reporting – building the basis for improved Integrated Water Resources Management

In 2023, at the request of the Country Focal Point, SLWP/GWP provided financial support to conduct the consultation process and record the views of key stakeholders in the water sector of Sri Lanka. Furthermore, a facilitator was hired based upon the proposal of the Focal Point, to conduct the stakeholder consultation and complete the survey on time.

The main multistakeholder consultation workshop was held on 19 September 2023, at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, organised by the SLWP with the guidance of the Ministry of Irrigation. It was attended by 36 participants out of 48 invited. The representation included stakeholders from the Government, Academia, and Non-Government Sectors. Seventeen different agencies of the government were represented at the consultation.  The well represented consultation was a result of several orientation sessions that were conducted with key water agencies and extensive discussions had been carried out in advance with the country Focal Point, Eng (Ms) Namalee Madawalagama, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Irrigation and her team at the Ministry. The facilitator and SLWP also attended to those discussions and clearly defined the responsibilities to organise the multi-stakeholder consultation and for finalising the SDG 6.5.1 report. The invitation and list of stakeholders were prepared by the Country Focal Point, assisted by Eng. (Mr) Rohan Perera, Director of the Ministry of Irrigation.

During the workshop, participants were requested to form four groups corresponding to the four dimensions of IWRM: Enabling environment, Institutions and Participation, Management instruments and Financing, according to their institutional and functional backgrounds. The process, interpretations, and entries to Description and Progress and Way Forward were presented by Mr Paul Glennie, Senior Technical Advisor at UNEP-DHI. The orientation of the groups further explained how the terminology applies to the Sri Lankan context.  

Following the group work, the responses from group leaders were collected and compiled to complete the first draft of the survey instrument before forwarding it to UNEP.  Several follow-through sessions were conducted to address the comments received from the SDG 6.5.1 Help Desk in order to complete the final draft.

The facilitator of the workshop, Mr Ananda Jayaweera, shared his reflections from the workshop. He pointed out how the high turnover of government staff and the election cycles of the country affect the reporting. The staff positions of the ministries are typically held for less than three years before one is moved to a different office. Drawing on experience from previous reporting and years of experience with the government sector, Mr Ananda Jayaweera emphasises the importance of continuous training and education on IWRM reporting. “During the next two years, there could be another person introduced as the Country Focal Point and everything has to be repeated,” says Mr Jayaweera. Second, party politics and changing interests with the introduction of new governments affect public administration, and IWRM is rarely on the agenda. Therefore, constant advocacy for its importance needs to be recognised for attaining not just SDG 6.5.1 by 2030, but by extension, many other water-related targets, both within the SDGs and other global frameworks.

The Final Survey was completed by 20 October 2023 and shared with the SDG 6.5.1 Help Desk by the Country Focal Point. Apart from the report itself, a noteworthy but hard-to-measure outcome of the reporting process was the relations built and knowledge shared between stakeholders. These relations are the very basis for IWRM. 

Reflecting on the process leading up to the main workshop and the reporting, Eng (Ms) Madawalagama further pointed out the significance of the collaboration with SLWP, as opposed to other donors: “SLWP supported us to gather all relevant stakeholders to a common table, initiate a dialogue and come to one common solution”. She also noted that a few important stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Fisheries, who were not present during the workshop, would be essential to invite for future workshops.  

The round table discussions held before the main workshop allowed the Country Focal Point to disseminate the key messages of IWRM to a wider audience. The discussions held prior to the consultation and for report validation were also attended by more than ten officials representing the Ministry of Irrigation and Mahaweli Authority. The Country Focal Point also noted how the participants appreciated the opportunity to contribute and attended the workshop till the end because they considered it important to have their say in the final report. “Their contribution was extremely good” she explains.

With regard to institutions and participation, a lack of coordination was identified as the main challenge to the implementation of IWRM. Representatives of the Ministry of Water Supply highlighted that the National Coordination Meeting conducted by the Secretary to the Ministry, a Multistakeholder Platform for the WASH sector could serve as inspiration for a similar formal coordination mechanism for IWRM.   

Management Instruments cover a wide range of tools including regulations, techniques, targets, water charges and tariffs, technical guidelines, and monitoring of water resources availability and quality. The group found that considerable efforts are needed to build institutional capacity to institutionalise IWRM elements in the water resources assessment, river basin planning, and sustainable utilisation for equitable allocation. This is to be addressed through a comprehensive technical assistance programme to develop hardware and software to incorporate IWRM targets in river basin planning.  This means that water resource plans need to be prepared based on quantitative, qualitative, and ecological perspectives through a participatory approach. The establishment of the proposed National Water Resources Secretariat will provide an opportune moment for introducing IWRM elements.

Sri Lanka’s water sector is manned by high-quality professionals also future professionals will soon enter the workforce. IWRM capacity building is incorporated into the curricula of engineering undergraduates and post-graduates. 

In the discussion on the enabling environment, the group identified the main challenges to progress in the adoption of a National Policy for Water Resources. The economic crisis in the country would be a major factor hampering the next steps in institutionalising the recommendations of the policy, therefore, even though the drafting of water law needs acceleration, it may be delayed due to changes in priorities.

Sri Lanka scored 49 as the average score on IWRM implementation in the 3rd reporting cycle. While the component ‘Institutions and Participation’ scored 63 as the highest, the component ‘Financing’ scored the lowest, only reaching 32. It was observed that the strong institutional base in water sector plays a key role for making a steady progress towards achieving IWRM implementation in Sri Lanka by 2030.