Abstract:
Sri Lanka, a tropical island nation highly vulnerable to climate-induced
disasters, faces a critical challenge in legally integrating environmental
protection with rapid development. This study undertakes a comparative,
multi-disciplinary legal analysis of the country’s framework for addressing
environmental degradation and climate change impacts. The research is vital
as climate risks threaten Sri Lanka’s socio-economic stability, food security,
and vulnerable coastal communities. A rigorous legal review is essential to
assess the effectiveness, enforceability, and constitutional grounding of current
laws against progressive international standards. These domestic legal
instruments are critically compared with Sri Lanka’s obligations under
international law, including the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement ,the Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. The
study identifies a significant gap in comprehensive scholarship examining the
coherence and enforceability of Sri Lanka’s dualist legal system in
implementing international climate commitments. In particular, the
constitutional status of climate-related rights and the incorporation of
principles such as intergenerational equity into the regulatory mechanisms of
the NEA remain underexplored. Preliminary findings indicate that the
National Environment Act (NEA) provides a robust framework for general
pollution control and project approval (EIA), but its direct provisions for
climate change are fragmented and often policy-driven. Constitutional
provisions are largely directive rather than justiciable rights, requiring judicial
activism for environmental justice. While Sri Lanka’s updated (Nationally
Determined Contribution)NDCs under the UNFCCC demonstrate ambition,
their necessary legal underpinning is often lacking, highlighting weak domestic
implementation and the need for a comprehensive Climate Change Act. The
study concludes that is imperative to transition from a policy-centric to a
legally-binding framework, enhancing accountability for climate action,
strengthening institutional capacity for SDG implementation, and fully
domesticating principles of climate justice and the polluter pays principle.
