“Sri Lanka has strong environmental laws”

The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and India’s Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) recently conducted two workshops and training programmes in Colombo and Kandy on strengthening the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process in Sri Lanka.

The objective of conducting the training programmes was to highlight how environmental impacts are identified and how to review EIA reports and preparation of the Environmental Management Plan (EMP), citing some case studies from India.

During the discussions, it was also revealed that Sri Lanka has a strong environmental law – the National Environmental Act – and it has to face various challenges when it comes to implementation of the law.

CSE India Director Nivit Kumar Yadav said Sri Lanka has strong environmental laws for implementing the EIA process and there are some gaps which need to be addressed to achieve the standards of the best international practices.

He said accordingly, proper data systems, quality EIA reports, development of proper review systems to evaluate EIA reports, enhancing the involvement of civil society and compliance of approved projects through well-prepared EMPs are essential.

He further said Sri Lanka needs to improve transparency when it comes to environmental compliance which will push industries to take extra measures to comply with statutory norms.

“To achieve the objective of implementing EIA for prescribed development projects, data collection, impact assessment study, the preparation of the EIA report and implementation of the EMP to facilitate compliance monitoring have to be executed in the full spirit,” he said.

Yadav said there is also a need for improving the quality of the EIA report since decisions are being made based on the recommendation of the EIA report and keeping this in mind, the CEA and CSE are conducting a workshop cum capacity building programme to enhance the knowledge of environmental regulators to ensure better implementation of the EIAs in Sri Lanka.

In addition, there was a special lecture on the accreditation scheme for EIA consultants by Yadav, since it is not currently practised in Sri Lanka.

CEA Chairman Supun S. Pathirage and CEA Director General P.B. Hemantha Jayasinghe also expressed their gratitude to the CSE Institute for their contribution in holding such a workshop and pointed out the benefits of environment conservation work in Sri Lanka through strengthening the EIA process.