Policy Documents

National Policy

National Policy “Mahinda Chintana”
The Government of Sri Lanka has a booklet titled “Mahinda Chintana Vision for the Future” published by H.E. the President. Since the Booklet “Mahinda Chintana” is a kind of manifest, it is regarded as a National Policy. “Mahinda Chintana” focus on most of all issues in Sri Lanka covering environmental issues. The Government policies are described in “Green Lanka for sustainable future” other than saying “ensure that Sri Lanla abides by the global treaties and agreement on environmental and climatic change and will strengthen Sri Lanka’s tie with the UN Agencies”

National Action Plan for Harita Lanka Programme
HARITA_LANKA National Action Plan for Harita Lanka Programme was published by the National Council for Sustainable Development, Presidential Secretariat on January 2009. National Council for Sustainable Development was established by H.E. the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa with purpose of seeking a successful blend of the bast of modern science and the richness of traditional knowledge for

Natural Resource Management and Sustainable Use
Major Challenging of Climate Change
Protection of the Environment

Ten missions included into the National Action Plans are covering Clean Air, Saving the Fauna, Flora and Ecosystems, Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change, Wise Use of the Coastal Belt and Sea Around, Responsible Use of the Land Resources, Doing Away with the Dumps, Water for All and Always, Green Cities for Health and Properity, Greening The Industries and Knowledge for Right Choice.

National Environmental Policy
In the Article No. 2.2.10 Reducing the Risk of Climate Change, The Government of Sri Lanka stated as follows;

“The risks of climate change will be managed by implementing adaptive strategies that minimize the impact of climate change on both the people, and the economy, of Sri Lanka” To accomplish this, the Government of Sri Lanka will:

(i) Review the effect of climate change on Sri Lanka through the development of impact scenarios and response
    strategies
                  (a) For sea level change
                  (b) For changing water resource available including storm and drought frequency on agricultural production
                       and the economy as a whole
                  (c) For disaster response

(ii) Develop policy scenarios for the use of the Clean Development Mechanism and its application for Sri Lanka
(iii) Evaluate the needs to enter into future potential trading system for carbon reduction including the necessity for clear
      and secure property rights or entitlements to land and carbon.
(iv) Develop an information database through the Ministry in charge of Environment.

National Clean Development Mechanism Policy (Draft)
Climate change has been ranked as a major threat to global environment. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) was adopted at the Rio Summit in 1992 in order to stabilize greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere and thereby mitigate human induced global warming. In order to achieve the objective of the UNFCCC, a binding protocol was adopted at the 3rd Conference of Parties held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997 resulting Industrialized countries should reduce their combined GHG emission by at least 5% compared to 1990 level by 2008-2012, first commitment period. Clean Development Mechanisms is the only one relevant to developing countries such as Sri Lanka among the mechanism introduced by Kyoto Protocol. It is expected that CDM will assists in achieving sustainable development while achieving compliance with developed countries emission reduction targets Hence as a National Focal Point to The UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol, Ministry of Environment has developed a National Policy on Clean Development Mechanism (draft) with the objective of achieving Sustainable Development through,

Developing and establishing the institutional, financial , human resources and legal/legislative framework necessary to participate in CDM activities.
Developing an mechanism for trading of “Certifies Emission Reduction” earned through CDM activities for the Government of Sri Lanka.

National Policy on CDM (Draft)

Public comments were called through newspapers and Designated National Authority is in a process of finalizing the draft policy. A national level workshop will be adopted the policy before it is submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for the approval to establish the Institutional, Human resources and Legislative framework necessary to participate in the CDM projects.