Problem Statement: 

​​As per the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) Sri Lanka is highly vulnerable to the effects of anthropogenic climate change, and has low readiness to adapt to the effects of climate change. While Sri Lanka does have a National Adaptation Plan and a Climate Change policy that acknowledges the necessity to build resilience and its commitments to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the form of its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), robust implementations of these recommendations are lacking. Furthermore, as per the State of Sri Lanka Environment Report 2020 formulated by the Center for Environmental justice, during the year 2020 Sri Lanka saw an increase in land grabbing, forest destruction, threat to wildlife, sand mining, coastal erosion and threat to biodiversity resulting from infrastructural development. This resulted in the need to have legal practitioners well versed in environmental law, climate change law and international developments in the sphere of environmental justice an absolute necessity, despite the less number of experts in the field. It was also apparent through the aforesaid report that Sri Lanka also lacks conscious and unbiased reporting on environmental injustices and awareness raising and advocacy campaigns on environmental protection in mainstream media as well as social media.

Target Group:

The course will be offered to 30 Law undergraduates from the universities of Colombo, Peradeniya, Jaffna, Sri Lanka Law College and Kotalawala Defence University.

Proposed Solution: 

A curated 6 week Environmental Justice Fellowship will be offered to 30 selected Law undergraduates to equip them with the required practical knowledge and skills on the environmental law legal framework of Sri Lanka, issues in the sphere of environmental protection and conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies to create a pool of young environmental justice fellows to spearhead the mission of tackling climate change and protecting the environment.

Hub Activities:

1. 
   Develop an up to date fellowship curriculum: The fellowship curriculum will be developed in partnership with the Centre for Environmental Law and Policy of the University of Colombo to ensure the content is up to date and is of optimum quality. 
   


2. 
   Delivery of the Environmental Justice Fellowship: The fellowship will be delivered across 6 weeks to the selected 30 participants in English and Sinhala/Tamil based on the preferences the shortlisted applicants to ensure high effectivity. Held virtually, the program will entail two in person sessions at the commencement and conclusion of the program. The in person sessions will pave the way for final day presentations and networking opportunities for future Environmental Justice Fellows. 
   


3. 
   Create the Environmental Justice Fellows Network: Upon the conclusion of the fellowship program, the participants are provided with the opportunity to select one of the three avenues mentioned below and will be connected with the relevant organizational experts in the sphere of environmental justice in Sri Lanka to pursue their chosen avenue. 
   
   
   1. Legal practice specialising in Environmental Law 
   
   
   2. Advocacy on Environmental Justice in Sri Lanka 
   
   
   3. Research on Environmental law and justice 
   
   
   
   

Short & Long-Term Goals/Results: 

• Better prepare the next generation of lawyers to represent the victims of climate change and voice against environmental injustice


• Equip the law undergraduates with the necessary advocacy skills to pro-actively advocate for environmental protection and conservation and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies


• Create a network of Environmental Justice Fellows consisting of young legal professionals

The long-term action plan includes the following:

• A network of Environmental Justice Fellows will be formed at the end of the program based on the performance and interest of the participating Law undergraduates. Consequently, an online Environmental Justice Fellow’s Leader Board will be created to encourage the fellows to proactively engage in their chosen avenue.


• Building upon the feedback and evaluation of the program, the program will be conducted annually as a signature project of the Kandy Hub under the sphere of environmental protection.


• The advocacy team will do campaigns and conscious and unbiased reporting of the cases taken up by the legal team. The academic team will support the legal team through research required to support the law suits.

Collaborators: Centre for Environmental Law and Policy of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo