Sri Lanka and Britain will violate international obligations
The handover of the Meteorological Department Lands in Colombo to the British High Commission in a manner detrimental to the maintenance of international standards for climate observations is in contravention of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that both Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom have signed.
Sri Lanka signed to the UNFCCC convention in June 1992. It was ratified in November 1993 and came into force in March 1994. The United Kingdom signed to the UNFCCC convention in June 1992. It was ratified in August 1993 and came into force in March 1994. The relevant clauses of this convention state that:
Article 4(g)... Promote and cooperate in scientific, technological, technical, socio- economic and other research, systematic observation and development of data archives related to the climate system and intended to further the understanding and to reduce or eliminate the remaining uncertainties regarding the causes, effects, magnitude and timing of climate change and the economic and social consequences of various response strategies.
In carrying out their commitments under Article 4, paragraph 1(g), the Parties shall:
(a)... Support and further develop, as appropriate, international and intergovernmental programmes and networks or organizations aimed at defining, conducting, assessing and financing research, data collection and systematic observation, taking into account the need to minimize duplication of effort;
(b)... Support international and intergovernmental efforts to strengthen systematic observation and national scientific and technical research capacities and capabilities, particularly in developing countries, and to promote access to, and the exchange of, data and analyses thereof obtained from areas beyond national jurisdiction.
The Sri Lankan Department of Meteorology in its website states that it was enacted in Parliament to “provide all meteorological and climatological information nationally, in accordance with the World Meteorological Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organizations regulations.”
The World Meteorological Organization standards as codified in its 1996 Sixth Edition of “The WMO Guide to Meteorological Instruments and Methods of Observation” includes the following requirements:
(a) Outdoor instruments should be installed on a level piece of ground
(b) There should no steeply sloping ground in the vicinity
(c) The site should be well away from trees, buildings, walls or other such obstructions.
(h) The position used for observing cloud and visibility should he as open as possible and command the widest possible view of the sky and the surrounding country
(j) Night observations of cloud and visibility are best made from a site unaffected by extraneous lighting.
It is extremely doubtful that all of these standards for station locations can be maintained with the loss of land to the British High Commission.