On 12 June 2026, representatives of six civil society organisations met with the Minister of Environment to hand over a set of joint recommendations on the National Environmental (Amendment) Bill. The recommendations were endorsed by Climate Action Now Sri Lanka, Greenpeace South Asia, Law and Society Trust, People’s Alliance for Right to Land, The Biodiversity Project, and Yukthi Collective. This consultation took place after the Bill’s Committee Stage debate began in Parliament on 8 June 2026, and ahead of its final reading.
The joint statement set out 18 recommendations addressing key gaps identified in the draft Bill, centred on the absence of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) requirements, the lack of recognition for customary, traditional, and indigenous land and resource use, and the absence of community rights within the Bill’s regulatory architecture. The recommendations also raised concerns about the concentration of unchecked power in the Director-General and the Minister without adequate judicial oversight, and called for stronger safeguards to ensure that affected communities, rather than facing structural exclusion, have a formal and meaningful role in environmental decision-making processes.
The Bill was passed in Parliament on 24 June 2026, first at its Second Reading with 113 votes in favour and 10 against, and subsequently at its Third Reading with amendments following the Committee Stage. It marks the most extensive overhaul of Sri Lanka’s environmental legislation in nearly 40 years.
The attached recommendations reflect the collective input of the six endorsing organisations and were submitted directly to the Ministry as part of this consultation process, prior to the Bill’s passage.