Nationally Determined Contributions, September 2016.

The Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment in Sri Lanka as the National Focal Point to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is pleased to submit its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in accordance with Decision 1/CP.21 of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. We are in confident that the NDCs submitted by the Parties to the UNFCCC will support in achieving the set objectives of the Paris Agreement. Sri Lanka believes that a fair and ambitious Agreement is an imperative for countries to reach the long-term temperature and Sustainable Development Goals, and is pleased to take part in the efforts of tackling current and projected climate change challenges by implementing Sri Lanka’s NDCs. The NDCs have been formulated based on previously submitted INDCs following the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. The information presented in this submission is based on the data available at the time of preparation of country’s NDCs. Sri Lanka’s NDCs for Food Security comprise of three major areas; agriculture, livestock and fisheries. Climate change will affect these sectors regarding food security, food availability, food accessibility, food utilization and food system stability. This will have impacts on human life in many ways, on human health, livelihood assets, food production and distribution channels as well as changing purchasing power and market flow. Impacts would be both short term and long term. More frequent short term impacts and extreme weather events, and long term impacts caused by changing temperature and precipitation patterns.
Sri Lanka’s NDCs comprise of following four areas: Mitigation - Reducing the GHG emissions against the Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenarios in the sectors of energy (electricity generation), transportation, industry, waste and forestry. The key contributors to GHG are Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O); Adaptation - Building resilience in most vulnerable communities, sectors and areas to adverse effects of climate change. Adaptation will focus on human health, food security (agriculture, livestock and fisheries), water and irrigation, coastal and marine, biodiversity, urban infrastructure and human settlement, tourism and recreation. Adaptation initiatives that derive mitigation co-benefits will be prioritized; Loss and Damage - In order to address issues related to losses and damages resulting from extreme weather events, a local mechanism will be developed in accordance with the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage; Means of Implementation- External support for Finance, Technology Development and Transfer, and Capacity Building for the above sectors are considered in the implementation process of the NDCs of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is a developing country that is highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. However, despite its vulnerabilities Sri Lanka is committed to address global climate change and aims to channel the development into a low carbon pathway through sustainable development. The country’s total GHG emission represents less than 0.1% of global emissions and the per capita emission is 0.6tCO2e. Through the NDCs, Sri Lanka puts forward an ambitious and progressive delinking of GHG emissions in its efforts for economic growth. Sri Lanka proposes fair and ambitious mitigation approaches, while facing the challenges of progressively increasing adaptation demands, and climate induced loss and damage. Sri Lanka intends to launch an ambitious strategy of mainstreaming climate change adaptation across all economic drives where capacity building and locally appropriate institutional mechanisms will be crucial and key elements. The finance and human resource development to implement the strategy will be challenging for these ambitious targets, and the domestic contribution to this end will be very significant.
Sri Lanka has recently taken strong initiatives to implement efficient and effective sustainable energy programmes, as well as eliminating the introduction of coal power plants (with the capacity of 4700 MW or more) from the national electricity system by 2030. The initiatives further includes introducing renewable energy sources, and introducing LNG for thermal power generation in lieu of solid and liquid petroleum fuels. Under the renewable energy sources of which energy generation will be enhanced, the available hydro power generation potential will be absorbed. The initiatives will also focus on available solar and wind resources which will form the larger part of future expansion of renewable energy based power generation. Forests are a fundamental and important element in the efforts to combat the adverse effects of climate change. The vital role that trees play in removing carbon from air through a process referred to as carbon sequestration has now been recognized globally as a potent way to remove rapidly increasing atmospheric carbon. Forests in particular help to remove larger amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and function as a carbon sink.
Greenhouse Gas emission from solid waste depends on the disposal methods. Waste collecting and disposing have become major issues in waste sector today. The main waste collection and disposal systems currently in practice in Sri Lanka are composting, recycling, sanitary land filling, open dumping, waste burning through incineration (for clinical waste) and waste water treatment. The NDCs of Adaptation to adverse effects of Climate Change include the following sectors: Health, Food Security, Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock, Water and Irrigation.