Dr. Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi to speak at WNPS monthly lecture today on ‘The future of nature in Sri Lanka’

The Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) monthly lecture will be held today at 6.00 p.m. at the Jasmine Hall, BMICH with Dr. Manamendra-Arachchi speaking on “The future of nature kin Sri Lanka.”

He intends to discuss his 40 years of experience in wildlife research. He will focus the audience’s attention on the ideas he has expressed, and predictions he has made in this field, since 1980s. Based on them, he will discuss the future of nature in Sri Lanka, as he sees it being, and what needs to be done to ensure its preservation. This is surely an opportunity not to be missed, for any of every age, who have an interest, scientific or lay, in Sri Lanka’s magnificent biodiversity. Who better than a modern legend of conservation to listen to and learn from?

Dr. Kelum Manamendra-Arachchi is a name that slips easily off the tongue of aspiring young scientists, researchers, environmentalists and conservationists of Sri Lanka, not to mention his academic peers, for the volume of work that he has undertaken over four decades. His numerous publications – research papers and books – are invaluable reading for those who wish to learn of modern discoveries in the zoology of Sri Lanka, and the dedication, discipline and hard work it takes to achieve all he has. That is why this lecture, which will be delivered primarily in Sinhala, is bound to attract many of this number; for they are the human hope in whose hands the future of nature in Sri Lanka rests.

Dr. Manamendra-Arachchi is credited with discovering, and scientifically describing, over 70 species of amphibians, reptiles and mammals of Sri Lanka; he is credited with over half of the hitherto known 100+ species of amphibians. He has published a considerable number of research papers at both local and international levels on Zoo-Archaeology, Paleontology, Ecology and Taxonomy. 

The monthly lecture of the WNPS is supported by the Nations Trust Bank. It is open to both members and non-members, entrance free.