One of the major challenges in the 21st century is to transform industrial economies into environmentally conscious ones. Capacity building in this endeavor has emphasized the preservation of existing natural balances.

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) is currently training communities, institutions and officials to meet the challenges of climate change through effective climate risk management. In particular, ADPC is supporting disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation measures in the coastal and river basin areas of Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

ADPC, along with the Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy and the Department of Agricultural Engineering of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, organized a training course on Ecosystem Resilience in a Changing Climate at Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on 6­–9 April 2015. The training was meant to benefit the agriculture and environmental sector officials to build agro-ecosystems’ resilience against climate and disaster risks associated with climate change.

The training allowed ADPC and other stakeholder organizations to share knowledge and experiences with participants. The program is being implemented in two sites: Nilwala downstream, Southern Sri Lanka and Cantho Province, Mekong River Delta in Southern Vietnam with support from the Australian Government.

The training gave participants an in-depth understanding of ecosystems as natural dynamic systems, and encouraged them to consider disaster risk reduction in all related planning efforts. Emphasis was given to agro-ecosystems, especially their adaptation for livelihood improvement while maintaining existing natural balances.

Participants learned practical weather observation and interpretation skills to better understand the ways in which the challenges caused by the climate change can be overcome, and how economic and ecological returns of ecosystems can be improved. After the training course, participants would have the necessary skills to improve ecosystem health through climate data application, technological interventions, and community mobilization.

Officials from the agriculture and environmental sectors learned about building agro-ecosystems’ resilience against disaster risks associated with climate change.

The participants at Nilwala River Basin for a field visit.