Drought parches Sri Lanka’s farms, threatens hydropower

Experts in Sri Lanka fear that despite the increased frequency of extreme dry seasons, the country still lacks measures to ease the impact on vital sectors like agriculture, energy and water resources. Ranjith Punyawardena, chief climatologist at the Department of Agriculture, said that this year’s main paddy rice harvest was likely to shrink by 7-10 percent due to the shortage of rainfall. – http://www.trust.org/item/20140214194424-vmupo/?source=hptop

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About Amantha Perera

Amantha Perera is a writer and a multi-media journalist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. His work regularly appears in TIME, Reuters/AlertNet (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Inter Press News Service – IPS , and Integrated Regional Information Network – IRIN. He concentrates on coverage on Sri Lanka’s post-conflict situation, humanitarian aid, human rights, climate change and impact on the region and adaptation measures. He has worked extensively in the region and reported from the US, Brazil, India, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Nepal. He was an International Visiting Scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, California in 2003/04. He was also part of a team that was awarded the 2012 Prince Albert/United Nations Global Prize for Climate Change reporting awarded to IPS for its coverage of the Rio+20 Conference. He began his journalism at the Sri Lankan weekly The Sunday Leader in 1998. Twitter: @AmanthaP

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