Speaking at "Sri Lanka - NEXT 2019" conference held in the capital Colombo, Jayasuriya said Sri Lanka was a signatory to the Paris Agreement and was ready to adopt measures which would mitigate the crisis as the consequences of it were highly vulnerable and intense.

"Global politics revolve around climate change and world leaders cannot ignore the climate change crisis. This has a huge impact on the ultimate vote, visionary direction of a country and its environment governance. The phenomenon of climate change is independent from a country's magnitude, geo-political boundary or its political leadership," Jayasuriya said.

Sri Lanka was ranked second in the countries worst affected by climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index for 2019.

The report said heavy landslides and floods hit Sri Lanka after strong monsoon rains lashed south-western regions of the country in May 2017, and more than 200 people died after the worst rains in the country since 2003.

The monsoons displaced more than 600,000 people from their homes and 12 districts were affected.

In 2018 and 2019, several more deaths were reported from the annual monsoon rains.