Sri Lanka Accreditation Board and SLYCAN Trust Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Work towards Sustainable, Ethical, and Climate-Friendly Production Systems

World Accreditation Day is celebrated on 9th June by the accreditation community worldwide, and in 2021, the theme was declared by the International Accreditation Bodies as ‘Accreditation: Supporting the Implementation of SDGs’. The Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB) and the Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka (SDCSL) in partnership with SLYCAN Trust conducted a virtual forum on "SDGs: National Commitment and Accreditation" as the national event to commemorate World Accreditation Day. This forum created a platform for partner organizations to share their achievements, challenges, and insights for future actions needed to reach Sri Lankan SDG targets with the support of accreditation. The aim of the forum was to support the implementation of SDGs with the participation of different stakeholders and find new directions that have to be taken to achieve SDG targets.

Just Transition in Livelihoods for Resilient Food Systems

As the world is increasingly recognizing the urgency of building resilient food systems, it is paramount to ensure that food system transition happens in a just and fair manner that includes everyone. This requires a holistic multi-actor approach globally, regionally, nationally, and locally, targeting not only policy and technological interventions but also changes in attitudes and sociocultural systems.

Building Permanent Resilience: An Interview with Dr. Youssef Nassef

Dr. Youssef Nassef, the Director of the Adaptation Programme at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat, recently launched the Resilience Frontiers Initiative (RFI)to achieve permanent resilience beyond 2030. Harnessing the power of paradigm-shifting frontier technologies and emerging social trends, this Initiative identifies eight transformative pathways that will steer the world towards this future.

காலநிலை நடவடிக்கை மற்றும் நிலையான அபிவிருத்தியை அடைவதற்கான கொள்கை இடைவெளிகள் மற்றும் தேவைகளை அடையாளம் கண்டுகொள்வதற்கான பிராந்திய பட்டறை.

புரட்டாதி மாதம் 17 மற்றும் 18 ஆம் திகதிகளில் , மகாவலி அபிவிருத்தி மற்றும் சுற்றாடல் அமைச்சின் காலநிலை மாற்ற செயலகம், ஸ்லைகன் அறக்கட்டளை (SLYCAN Trust) , பிரகிரிதி வள மையம், ஐ.சி.சி. சி எ.டி மற்றும் உலகளாவிய மாற்ற ஆராய்ச்சிக்கான ஆசிய-பசிபிக் வலையமைப்பு ஒன்றிணைந்து காலிமுக ஹோட்டலில் (Galle Face Hotel) இரண்டு நாள் பிராந்திய பங்குதாரர் பட்டறை ஒன்றை ஏற்பாடு செய்திருந்தன. தேசிய மற்றும் பிராந்திய மட்டத்தில் தேசிய நிர்ணயிக்கப்பட்ட பங்களிப்புகளை (NDCs) செயல்படுத்துவதில் கொள்கை இடைவெளிகளையும் தேவைகளையும் நிவர்த்தி செய்வதில் இந்த பட்டறை ஆனது கவனம் செலுத்தியிருந்தது. மேலும் என்.டி.சி க்கள் (NDCs) , தேசிய தழுவல் திட்ட (NAP) செயல்முறைகள், நிலையான அபிவிருத்தி இலக்குகள் (SDGs) மற்றும் அனர்த்த அபாயக் குறைப்புக்கான செண்டாய் கட்டமைப்பு (Sendai Framework) ஆகியவற்றுக்கு இடையேயான ஒத்துழைப்புகளை உருவாக்குவதிலும் கவனம் செலுத்தியது.

Regional Workshop on Identifying and Addressing Policy Gaps and Needs for Climate Action and Achieving Sustainable Development

On September 17th and 18th, the Climate Change Secretariat of the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, SLYCAN Trust, Prakriti Resources Centre, ICCCAD, and the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research organised a two day regional stakeholder workshop at Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. The workshop focused on addressing policy gaps and needs in the implementation of National Determined Contributions (NDCs) at the national and regional level. It also focused on building synergies between NDCs, National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the S

How Green is our Budget? Sri Lanka’s 2019 Budget from an Environmental Perspective

On March 21st, 2019, SLYCAN Trust organised a dinner discussion on Sri Lanka's newly unveiled budget. The well-attended discussion took place at Hotel Janaki and featured a panel of experts trying to answer the leading question: How green is our budget?

Shipwrecks for Coastal Ecosystem Conservation

Close to 25 percent of the marine life in our planet lives around coral reefs. This makes coral reefs one of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems. Rising temperatures due to global warming and climate change have put these natural habitats at risk; a vast number of coral reefs around the world are threatened with coral bleaching and some are damaged beyond repair. Overfishing, destructive fishing practices such as dynamite fishing and bottom trawling have also resulted in the destruction of these marine eco-systems.

Colombo's Urban Wetlands: On Becoming and Staying a Ramsar Wetland City

The city of Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka and its economic, political, and cultural focal point. Since October 2018, it is also South Asia's only Wetland City under the Ramsar Convention. With concerted efforts from government, communities, and all affected stakeholders, this opens the way for Colombo to become a model for urban wetland conservation and benefit from the many ecosystem services they offer.

காலநிலை மாற்ற தொடர்பாடலில் தேசிய தந்திரோபாயம் ஒன்றை உருவாக்குதல்

மகாவலி அபிவிருத்தி மற்றும் சூழல் அமைச்சின் காலநிலை மாற்ற செயலகம்,யூ.என்.டி.பி. மூன்றாவது தேசியதொடர்பாடல் அமையம் ஆகியவை இணைந்து பங்குதாரர் செயலமர்வொன்று நடத்தப்பட்டது.

Developing a National Strategy on Climate Change Communication

A stakeholder workshop was organised today at Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment led by the Climate Change Secretariat of Sri Lanka, the UNDP and the Third National Communication Consortium.

දේශගුණ විපර්යාස සන්නිවේදනය ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේ රාජ්‍ය වැඩමුළුවක්

දේශගුණ විපර්යාස සන්නිවේදනය කිරීම සදහා ජාතික සන්නිවේදන ක්රමෝපායක් සකස් කිරීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙල යටතේ රාජ්ය ආයතනවල පවතින සන්නිවේදන කියාව ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේ විශේෂ වැඩමුළුවක් පරිසර අමාත්යංශ ශ්රවණාගාරයේදී අද (30)දින පැවැත්විණි.

Healthy Oceans and Sustainable Fishing

Oceans cover two thirds of world’s surface, and over 7.6 billion people directly or indirectly benefit from oceans around the world. Global fishery production is ever expanding, and according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), fisheries and aquaculture assure the livelihoods of 10-12 percent of the world’s population. Ocean resources can boost the growth of a country’s economy, but human activity also takes a toll on ocean health. Therefore, fishing needs to be carried out at sustainable levels, or fish stocks will deteriorate from overfishing and collapse. According to the World Wildlife Federation, if the world keeps fishing at its current pace, there will be no more fish left to eat by 2048.

Overdependence on fossil fuel: An urgent call for green initiatives

Petrol’ has been the talk of the town since early November. The daily lives of the public have been disrupted with the rising traffic congestions and transportation issues. Vehicles have been queuing up at petrol stations fearing a petrol shortage since last Friday, creating traffic jams on the streets of Colombo, amidst the heavy showers.

Moving Towards Renewable and Sustainable Energy in Sri Lanka

During the Presidential election 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena announced his manifesto under the theme of compassionate Maithri governance, a stable country”. In the chapter 10 of the aforesaid, he promised to meet the basic energy needs through renewable energy. The manifesto also included among others protecting against rising of imported fuel prices, inclusion of environmental factors in decision making, building biomass power plants and benefiting rural communities. It also mentions removing subsidies for fossil fuel and supporting renewable energy with the President’s policy statements emphasizing the obtaining of long term concessionary loans for clean energy from global funds.

Progressing towards Sustainable Development: Sri Lanka's National Energy Policy Draft

Ministry of Power & Renewable Energy of Sri Lanka has introduced the draft of the National Energy Policy for Sri Lanka for public comments. This is introduced as a step towards Sri Lanka’s move to sustainable energy as part of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Importance of Youth in a Country’s Development

The world population of youth, within the ages of 10-24 amounts to1.8 billion in a world population of 7 billion people, as documented by the UNFPA state of world population 2014. The effect of the emergence of a large population of youth depends on the manner in which a government regards their youth, which could either be as a liability that demands more resources or as problem solvers and change agents of the future.