Human Rights Measure

The Climate Change Secretariat of the Ministry of Environment launched its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) “review process” in 2020, presenting, “as Party to the Paris Agreement . . . its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) . . .  reflecting progressive and the highest possible ambition for climate action.” The report contains references to COVID-19 including: that the pandemic “significantly impacted Sri Lanka’s economy” and that the government “committed to a green development framework around the key environmental issues that impact Sri Lanka” with “concrete areas of investment Sri Lanka could potentially consider during post-Covid recovery situation, which have been discussed during the NDC revision process,” that because of “restrictions on physical meetings imposed to control the spread of Covid-19 through March-May 2020, virtual meetings and discussions were held with all working groups and the core NDC team” with the draft subsequently “presented to wider groups of stakeholders (by sector) . . . when restrictions were relaxed enabling physical meetings and discussions,” and that “post-Covid tourism development will need to give due recognition to climate risks such as rising temperatures, sea-level rise and increasing natural disasters.”