Sri Lanka’s EIAs fall behind in reporting social impacts, says report View(s):A new study on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in Sri Lanka finds that the overall quality of reporting on how development projects affect people—including identifying the social effects, predicting, evaluating and mitigating them before major decisions are made—is low and often fails to safeguard local communities. The addressing of social impacts is primarily governed by project-specific Terms of References (ToRs) issued by Project Approving Agencies (PAAs). Approximately 45% of EIA reports contain no explanation of the methodology used to identify or evaluate social impacts. Suggestions to address issue The study lists several recommendations to address the low quality of social impact reporting in Sri Lankan EIAs. Establish an annual monitoring and evaluation mechanism to assess the reporting quality of EIAs over time.

Source: Sunday Times January 25, 2026 04:33 UTC