ICLEI South Asia, with support from the Kurunegala Municipal Council, convened a Shared Learning Dialogue (SLD) in Kurunegala, Sri Lanka, on the 11th of July 2019. This workshop was convened as part of the ongoing Asia LEDS Partnership: Scaling Up Lessons from CapaCITIES project, which is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Kurunegala’s ClimateResilientCITIES Action Plan (CRCAP) is being prepared under the project, with technical inputs from and active participation of all stakeholders. This follows a multi-stakeholder process as per the established and proven CRCAP methodology.

Sumit Kumara Udawasala, Deputy Mayor, Kurunegala, chaired the workshop. Among the attendees was DBS Kumara, Deputy Commissioner, Kurunegala Municipal Council, while technical experts from ICLEI South Asia and the Chief Medical Officer of Kurunegala Municipal Council moderated and facilitated the workshop.

The SLD was organised to gauge the issues and challenges of key urban systems that contribute to systems fragility, and how that fragility gets aggravated in the light of climate change impact. ICLEI South Asia representatives conducted several technical sessions during the event, in preparation of formulating a robust CRCAP. The issues covered by the sessions included the need and processes of CRCAP preparation; presentation on the draft city-level energy use and greenhouse gas emission inventory and climate research along with data gaps; urban system analysis and risk assessment; vulnerable places and people; adaptive capacity assessment and resilient interventions.

During the discussions, vulnerable wards for each fragile urban system and the supporting and vulnerable actors were identified. The workshop also helped to identify key vulnerable urban systems, such as urban planning, water supply, sewerage and transportation, besides solid waste management, health and education. In order to build resilience in these urban systems, city-specific interventions will be developed.

The interactive workshop was attended by approximately 35 stakeholders from the Kurunegala Municipal Council; the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, representing the Sri Lankan government, and representatives and officials from line departments and civil society organisations.

The inputs from the workshop will feed into the Climate Resilient City Action Plan that is being prepared by the city, with assistance from ICLEI South Asia.