Dr. Lalanath De Silva, Head — Independent Redress Mechanism unit Green Climate Fund addresses the GPODS fellows
On March 13, Dr. Lalanath De Silva, the guest mentor for the GPODS fellowship, delivered a lecture on Non-Judicial Grievance Redressal Mechanisms and Conflict Resolution. As the head of the Independent Redress Mechanism of the Green Climate Fund, he offered great insights into the theme and drew from his professional experiences as well.
He began the lecture by explaining the functions and the organizational structure of the Green Climate Fund- a fund established within the framework of the UNFCCC to fund climate change mitigation projects and the consequent adoption of the projects, especially in developing countries at the receiving end of climate change. He explained the funding mechanism which entails channelizing funds through accredited intermediary institutions who get in contact with the implementing agency in the concerned country and oversee the project execution. He then elaborated upon the various units in the Green Climate Fund- one of which was the Independent Redress Mechanism which operated under his supervision.
The Mechanism performed a twofold function which was mainly to address grievances that arose during the implementation of a project due to an unintended/unforeseen adversity or review reconsideration petitions filed by countries/agencies who were denied funding. Talking about grievance redressal he went on to categorize the system as preventive, corrective and punitive. He went to elaborate the various measures followed by the Green Climate Fund to ensure all that such a mechanism works efficiently and is accessible to all aggrieved parties. The Redress Mechanism also ensures impartial behavior while addressing said grievances. Dr. De Silva also elaborated on the principles of redressal followed by the mechanism, such as the eight Ruggie Principles of Business and Human Rights. These guiding principles are Internationally accepted framework for citizen driven accountability and play a critical role in the GCF and similar organizations in ensuring fair grievance redressal.
Dr. De Silva concluded the lecture by further delineating grievance redressal mechanisms on the several grounds such as geographical coverage, nature of complaints entertained amongst others and highlighted the importance of such classifications in determining the scope and consequent success of such mechanisms. The session was highly engaging and interactive as the fellows drew from their personal experiences and raised insightful questions. The lecture also included small activities which provoked the fellows to reflect and gain more from the session.
About the GPODS fellowship:
The Global Policy, Diplomacy and Sustainability (GPODS) is a program for public policy practitioners, business professionals, energy and climate change experts, entrepreneurs, academicians, scholars and strategic analysts to act as a launchpad for their careers. Currently we have fellows from five different countries namely USA, France, UK, Israel, Italy and 40+ world leaders as mentors from 15 different countries.
About the Speaker:
Dr Lalanath de Silva is the Head of Green Climate Fund’s Independent Redress Mechanism. He has extensive experience in legal affairs, with more than 30 years of service as a practicing lawyer. In Sri Lanka, he supported the Ministry of Environment as a legal consultant, and was a member of his country’s Law Commission. He previously worked at the Environmental Claims Unit of the UN Compensation Commission in Geneva, and served as Director of the Environmental Democracy Practice at the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington DC. As a member of the Compliance Review Panel of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), he led the review of multiple compliance cases. Lalanath has a PhD from the University of Sydney, a Master of Laws from the University of Washington, and graduated from the Sri Lanka Law College as an Attorney-at-Law.