Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has called for climate change to be treated as a serious national security threat rather than merely an environmental issue, stressing that its impacts extend to the economy, food and water security, biodiversity and human life.

Addressing a meeting of the Parliamentary Caucus on Climate Change, Premadasa said national security should not be viewed solely in terms of military security, given the wide-ranging threats posed by climate change.

He said challenges such as rising costs of goods and services and water scarcity demonstrated that tackling climate change could not be left to the Government alone.

Premadasa stressed that Sri Lanka’s entire population of 22 million, Parliament and civil society must work together to address the issue, regardless of political party affiliations.

He also proposed establishing environmental societies at Divisional Secretariat level to take knowledge on environmental and wildlife-related issues to rural communities and strengthen public participation in conservation efforts.

Premadasa further stressed the importance of protecting Sri Lanka’s traditional perahera culture and its elephant population for future generations.

In this regard, he proposed establishing a special elephant pool through the breeding of young elephants from existing domesticated and tamed elephants, instead of capturing elephants from the wild.

He said such an approach could help ensure the continued availability of elephants for traditional cultural events while reducing the need to remove elephants from their natural habitats.