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Author	Prof M A D S Jeeva S Niriella
Organisation/Institution	Faculty of Law University of Colombo Sri Lanka
Country	SRI LANKA
Panel	Criminal Law
Title	Bridging the Enforcement Gap: A Critical Analysis of Sri Lanka’s Criminal Law Framework for Combating Transboundary Environmental Harm in the Context of SDG 16
Abstract	This study constitutes a qualitative doctrinal and analytical legal research examining the adequacy of the Sri Lankan criminal law framework in addressing transboundary environmental harm within the normative ambit of SDG 16 on rule of law accountability and effective institutions. Although Sri Lankan environmental governance is secured in the National Environmental Act No 47 of 1980 along with other environmental protection statutes and scattered penal provisions establish a foundation for environmental protection it remains structurally insufficient to respond to the increasingly transnational networked and organized nature of contemporary environmental crimes. The research problem arises from the widening enforcement gap between Sri Lankan domestic criminal law mechanisms and the complex reality of cross border environmental offences that require a multijurisdictional coordination synchronized standards and specialized prosecutorial tools. The study addresses a significant research gap in South Asian legal scholarship that has not systematically examined the intersection between criminal law enforcement regional environmental security and SDG 16 obligations. The theoretical framework is grounded in Green Criminology and Regulatory Theory offer a dual lens to assess both the ecological harms and the institutional limits of punitive state-centric enforcement. The research objectives are to 1. evaluate the sufficiency of Sri Lankan criminal law provisions relating to transboundary environmental harm 2. analyse the extent to which SDG 16 principles are integrated into enforcement practices and 3. propose a strengthened legal regulatory model for effective transnational environmental crime control. Corresponding research questions interrogate statutory adequacy institutional alignment with SDG 16 and required legal institutional reforms. The study adopts doctrinal analysis and comparative assessment with selected Asian jurisdictions employing content analysis as the principal analytical method. The findings reveal fragmented statutes weak inter-agency cooperation and limited cross border enforcement capacity demonstrating that Sri Lankan criminal law responses remain misaligned with SDG 16 indicators.
Biography	Professor Jeeva Niriella is a Senior Professor of Law in the Department of Public and International Law University of Colombo Sri Lanka and the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Criminal Justice at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. With thirty three years of distinguished academic service she has made significant contributions to legal education research and institutional development. She holds an LL.B. Hons. and an M.Phil. from the University of Colombo a Ph.D. from KIIT Law School India and is an Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Her principal research interests lie in Law Penology and Victimology supported by broader engagements in criminal law criminal justice human rights and gender justice. She has authored over sixty scholarly publications with reputed national and international publishers. She has held prominent leadership positions including serving as Vice President of the Asian Criminological Society. At the national level she has contributed to key state institutions such as the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation and the Victim Protection Authority. She was also the first woman appointed to the Board of Directors of the Colombo Stock Exchange. Her excellence has been recognized through prestigious honors including the title of Deshabandu the third highest national award conferred by the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 2019 and the APJ Abdul Kalam Jurist Excellence Award 2025 presented by the Kerala Law Academy Law College with GRCF and CALSAR. In her academic leadership she pioneered PG Diploma and Certificate programmes in Criminal Law.