The Sri Lanka High Commission is pleased to host a talk on “Sri Lanka -Wildlife and Sustainable Tourism: with special focus on Elephants” by Mr Srilal Miththapala on Tuesday 10th July 2018 at 5.15 pm

Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/07/2018
5:15 pm - 9:30 pm

Location
Sri Lanka High Commission

Categories


The Sri Lanka High Commission is pleased to host a talk on
“Sri Lanka -Wildlife and Sustainable Tourism: with special focus on Elephants”
by Mr Srilal Miththapala on
Tuesday 10th July 2018 at 5.15 pm (Canberra Event)

Sri Lanka -Wildlife and Sustainable Tourism: with special focus on Elephants

Sri Lanka -Wildlife and Sustainable Tourism: with special focus on Elephants

Srilal Miththapala, is a graduate from the University of Moratuwa with a BSc. in Electrical Engineering and has had wide experience in 2 diverse fields of Engineering and Hospitality. After an initial career in Engineering, he subsequently went into hospitality, where he held senior positions with several hotel management companies. He was also President of the Tourist Hoteliers Association of Sri Lanka.

Subsequently he was appointed as the Project Director of the EU SWITCH Asia Greening Sri Lanka Hotel programme, initiated by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, which was in operation for 4 years.

He currently holds board positions in several private companies and some state institutions.

He is a serious environmentalist and wildlife enthusiast, having undertaken formal research on Sri Lankan Elephants under the sponsorship of US Fish and Wildlife Services. He has written a book on Sri Lankan Elephants entitled ‘Tranquil Footsteps’ and still spends most of his free time observing and studying Sri Lankan wild life and elephants in particular.

Sri Lanka is blessed with a rich bio-diversity, being designated as one of the 31 Bio Diversity ‘Hot Spots’ in the world. It perhaps is the only place in the world where one can sight both the largest mammal that ever lived on earth, the Blue Whale, and the largest land animal in the world, the elephant, in one and the same place. In spite of it being a small island, not more than 65,600 sq. km in area, it has diverse ecosystems, with more than 3,300 species of plants, 480 species of birds, 80 species of mammals 66 species of amphibians and 280 species of reptiles.

In the post conflict period, tourism in Sri Lanka has grown exponentially and today is the 3rd largest foreign exchange earner for the country.

In his Presentation Srilal Miththapala will share his experiences in the tourism sector, wild life and sustainability with special focus on elephants in an illustrated slide presentation, exploring Sri Lanka’s rich bio-diversity, and how it could be developed in an environmentally sustainable manner.

No Comments