Sri Lanka Amongst First Nations Globally to Advance Giant-scale Biodiversity Motion with Kunming Biodiversity Fund Undertaking
12 March 2026, Colombo – Sri Lanka has been endorsed for a undertaking underneath the Kunming Biodiversity Fund (KBF), positioning the nation among the many first globally to maneuver into large-scale implementation of the Kunming-Montreal International Biodiversity Framework. The milestone marks a major step in translating world biodiversity commitments into coordinated nationwide motion.
The KBF undertaking proposal was formally signed by Mr. Okay.R. Uduwawala, Secretary, Ministry of Setting, and Mr. Vimlendra Sharan, FAO Consultant for Sri Lanka and the Maldives on the Ministry of Setting, underscoring robust nationwide management and worldwide partnership. The proposal is completely homegrown, developed by way of shut collaboration between the Ministry of Setting and nationwide specialists, making certain that world commitments are firmly grounded in Sri Lanka’s nationwide priorities and realities.
Invasive alien species characterize a vital and rising risk to Sri Lanka’s biodiversity, ecosystems, agriculture and livelihoods. Addressing this problem requires pressing, coordinated and system-wide nationwide motion. The KBF-supported undertaking responds on to this want, marking a transformative shift from fragmented, project-based interventions to a unified nationwide biosecurity system. The initiative will institutionalize prevention, early detection, speedy response and long-term administration of invasive species throughout the nation.
By means of the undertaking, led by the Ministry of Setting and carried out by the Meals and Agriculture Group of the United Nations (FAO), Sri Lanka will strengthen insurance policies, laws and institutional coordination associated to invasive species administration. Key interventions embody updating the nationwide precedence invasive species checklist for the primary time since 2015, establishing a nationwide digital monitoring system, and enhancing border controls by way of improved instruments and enforcement capability.
Neighborhood-based ecosystem restoration and inclusive livelihoods are central to the undertaking’s strategy. Actions will embody site-specific eradication efforts, post-eradication monitoring, and revolutionary ‘eradication-through-utilization’ fashions that generate financial alternatives for girls, youth and weak teams whereas restoring ecosystems.
The Kunming Biodiversity Fund gives catalytic worldwide financing that allows Sri Lanka to scale up biodiversity motion, handle long-standing funding gaps in invasive species administration, and leverage FAO’s technical help. This help is designed to ship system-level, long-term transformation moderately than short-term undertaking outcomes and provides a mannequin for translating biodiversity ambitions into concrete, sustained nationwide motion.
