Mr. Henk Ovink
Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Kingdom of the Netherlands
Henk Ovink was appointed by the Cabinet of the Netherlands as the first Special Envoy for International Water Affairs in 2015.
As the Ambassador for Water, he is responsible for advocating water awareness around the world, focusing on building institutional capacity and coalitions among governments, multilateral organizations, the private sector and NGOs to address the world’s pressing water needs and help initiate transformative interventions.
Ms. Sabra Noordeen
Special Envoy for Climate Change, Republic of Maldives
Appointed under the Climate Emergency Act , H.E Sabra Ibrahim Noordeen is the first Special Envoy for Climate Change in the Maldives.
Ms. Noordeen graduated from the University of London, United Kingdom, with a Master of Science in State, Society, and Development. She previously served as the Secretary, Foreign relations at the President’s Office and has also worked at the Maldives Police Service as a Director and Intelligence Analyst.
Mr. Ananda Mallawatantri
Advisor to the President on Environment, Climate Change and Green Finance
More than 23 years of international development experience (USAID, UN/DP and IUCN); More than 40 years of work experience in the Governments of Sri Lanka and United States, United Nations, Private Sector, Industry, Research and University Teaching; Demonstrated leadership in co-ordination of multi-sector and multi-stakeholder programmes;
Exposure to range of subjects but not limited to air, water, soils, waste, industry, disaster management, biodiversity, forestry, coastal and marine, climate change, land degradation; Project cycle experience covering conceptualization, development, resource mobilization, partnership development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; Successful projects at international, national level and community levels;
Successful resource mobilizations through International, Government, Private and Foundations; In-depth understanding of the expectations of Governments, Donors, Private Sector, NGO, Media, Academics and Communities; positions in the private sector on sustainability and resilience.
Tea Break
Please stay tuned we will be starting after the tea break.
We will be starting the 2nd session at 10.20 a.m.
Sri Lanka Standard Time
Panel Discussion
Climate Change and Water Dialogues:
2023 and Beyond
Ms. Priyanka Dissanayake
World Bank
Dr. Mark Smith
International Water Management Institute
Ms. Sabra Noordeen
Special Envoy for Climate Change
Republic of Maldives
Mr. Leel Randeni
Ministry of Environment
Sri Lanka
Moderated By
Dr. Nishadi Eriyagama
International Water Management Institute
Ms. Priyanka Dissanayake
Disaster Risk Management Specialist
World Bank
Priyanka is an environmental professional specialized in Water Management and joined the Bank as Disaster Risk Management Specialist in 2017. Priyanka has over 20 years of experience in the areas Natural Resource Management, Integrated Water Resources Management, Climate Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction and Green and Sustainable Development. She has a strong Applied Research background and was an International Advisory Committee Member for Urbanizing Deltas of the World Program of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research from 2015 to 2021.
Prior to the World Bank, Priyanka worked at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) as the Regional Coordinator of Global Water Partnership (GWP) South Asia. She worked at IWMI for nearly 10 years and was also an Environmental Scientist in the Global Research Division. She worked at USAID Sri Lanka and Maldives Mission as Project Management Specialist Natural Resources for two years and at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa for nearly 5 years before joining IWMI.
Dr. Mark Smith
Director General
International Water Management Institute
Dr Mark Smith is Director General at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). He brings more than 25 years of research and program management experience in water resources, agriculture, climate and sustainability. He was formerly Director of the Global Water Program at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), where he led innovative, multi-regional programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America addressing river basin management, transboundary cooperation and water governance, climate change adaptation and nature-based solutions.
He led IUCN advocacy of water-related policies and strategies in UNFCCC, Ramsar Convention, Rio+20 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as delivery of support for national and regional-level policy innovation and scaling of water systems change. Before IUCN, he was a Research Group Leader at CSIRO delivering analysis of environmental policy and management, strategies for sustainable development and support for planning and implementation of integrated water, land and ecosystem management.
Mr. Leel Randeni
Director, Climate Change
Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka
Mr Leel Randeni is the Director of the Climate Change Secretariat (CCS) Sri Lanka. In this capacity he leads the CCS as the national platform to address climate change issues and to liaise with line agencies at national and sub-national levels for identifying priorities and developing mechanisms to implement national policies on climate change.
The CCS is also the operational focal point for the UNFCCC. Prior to this role Mr Randeni was the Assistant Director (Special Projects and Environment Planning and Economics) at the Sri Lankan Ministry of Environment after serving as a Senior Environmental Officer with the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment. In his previous role with the Ministry of Environment he oversaw multiple programmes include the Green Entrepreneurship Promotion Programme and the Education and Awareness Activities Environmentally Sensitive Area National Programme.
Q & A
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