Joins ‘Life to Our Coral Reefs’ initiative, one year after partnering with ‘Life to Our Beaches’

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has joined the ‘Life to Our Coral Reefs’ initiative of the Sri Lanka Business and Biodiversity Platform popularly referred to as Biodiversity Sri Lanka (BSL), pledging the full weight of its support to an effort to conserve the Kayankerni marine sanctuary located between Panichankerni and Kalkuda in the Batticaloa District.

The five-year project to be conducted by BSL under the guidance of the Department of Wildlife Conservation in technical partnership with the Blue Resources Trust (BRT), is intended to enhance the resilience of the coral ecosystem, its capacity for renewal, and the provision of ecosystem services, while contributing to the socio-economic wellbeing and development of local communities.

An area of 953 hectares, the Kayankerni Sanctuary was declared under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance in 2019, but faces significant challenges, both human-made and natural, jeopardising its long-term survival.

According to BSL, export-oriented fisheries focusing on species like groupers, snappers and parrotfish boost the local economy but strain fish populations and fragile coral reefs due to unsustainable fishing methods, notably bottom-set nets. Illicit fishing practices using explosives outside the Marine Protected Area disrupt marine ecosystems, while accidental captures of turtles in nets, and nest predation by domestic dogs raise biodiversity concerns.

Additionally, the expansion of aquaculture indirectly affects the marine environment with nutrient-rich effluents, and runoff from agriculture in the Maduru Oya basin causes algal growth, disease spread, and coral loss. Natural threats, including annual coral bleaching events from 2015 to 2019, invasive species like the Crown of Thorns starfish, and algae proliferation, further strain this ecosystem. A delicate balance between conservation and sustainable practices is crucial to ensuring the Kayankerni Coral Reef's future and its surrounding habitats.

With the support of Commercial Bank and other corporate entities, the Kayankerni coral reef project will encompass planning and forging community-based connections, preparation for field-based activities, and identifying and establishing partnerships with stakeholders. Activities will be guided by the requirements of IUCN’s Global Nature-based Solutions Standard, and baseline monitoring for the site will be undertaken by the Blue Resources Trust under the guidance of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).

This is the second marine habitat conservation partnership between Commercial Bank and Biodiversity Sri Lanka. In 2023, the Bank became a corporate partner of BSL’s ‘Life to Our Beaches’ initiative, and undertook to fund the clean-up and continuing upkeep by a beach caretaker family, of a coastal stretch within the Kalutara Beach Park area.

Commercial Bank’s other community projects that promote sustainability include its ‘Trees for Tomorrow’ initiative to plant 100,000 trees around the country, the reforestation of a 100-hectare swath of degraded habitat belonging to the Kandegama forest in the Dimbulagala range of the Polonnaruwa District, a mangrove restoration project in Koggala; a marine turtle conservation initiative in Panama, and numerous staff engagement initiatives such as beach clean-ups and community projects to uplift the environment.

Biodiversity Sri Lanka is a national platform entirely owned and driven by companies from Sri Lanka’s private sector which have joined, and continue to support the cause of BSL, as its members. The mission of Biodiversity Sri Lanka, which began as the Sri Lanka Business and Biodiversity Platform (SLBBP) in August 2012, is “to mainstream biodiversity into the core business of companies through transformational approaches that involve multiple stakeholder collaborations as well as local, regional, and international interactions.”

Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, Commercial Bank is the largest private sector bank in Sri Lanka and the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World. The Bank is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector, and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. Commercial Bank operates a strategically-located network of branches and 974 automated machines island-wide, and has the widest international footprint among Sri Lankan Banks, with 20 outlets in Bangladesh, a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, and a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake in the Maldives.

Photo caption: Commercial Bank Deputy General Manager - Retail Banking & Marketing Mr Hasrath Munasinghe with the Chairman of Biodiversity Sri Lanka and Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company Mr Dilhan C. Fernando, the CEO/Director of Biodiversity Sri Lanka and Chairman/Managing Director of DIMO Mr Ranjith Pandithage and Biodiversity Sri Lanka Director Dr Rohan Pethiyagoda at the signing of the agreement.