Knowledge base

Sri Lanka is one of the world’s most biodiversity-rich countries and it’s finding ways to balance rapid tourism growth with nature protection. Through UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), Sri Lanka is advancing biodiversity finance with practical tools: a national tourism certification programme, support for 200+ SMEs, and a sustainable finance roadmap led by the Central Bank.

Watch how these solutions, from leopard insurance to green banking, are helping Sri Lanka turn ideas into impact in this conversation with Abbie Trinidad, Senior Technical Advisor, BIOFIN Global, and Ramitha Wijethunga, National Project Coordinator, BIOFIN Sri Lanka. 

Biodiversity finance solutions have the potential to unlock a better future for people and the planet, but they can only work when partners from all levels come together. This collection of 11 stories demonstrates the power and sheer variety of biodiversity finance solutions being implemented across the world. 

Each story, authored by a partner working alongside UNDP-BIOFIN, offers an insight into how biodiversity finance solutions help put us on a path to a nature-positive future. From community leaders to mayors, from national park Directors to government partners, the authors speak to the power of biodiversity finance solutions and how they are protect and restore nature while also boosting economies more sustainably.  

The Biodiversity Plan for Sri Lanka presents a detailed and prioritized set of financial solutions to achieve nationally set biodiversity targets within the period of 2018-2024.It showcase 13 different solutions that could be used in an innovative way to bridge the existing financial resource gap.

BIOFIN assessed the resources requirement to achieve national biodiversity targets of Sri Lanka till 2024. This brochure summarizes the information on resources requirement and proposed financial solutions to bridge the gap between existing situation and the best case scenario. 

BIOFIN assessed the resources requirement to achieve national biodiversity targets of Sri Lanka till 2024. This brochure summarizes the information on resources requirement and proposed financial solutions to bridge the gap between existing situation and the best case scenario. 

BIOFIN assessed the resources requirement to achieve national biodiversity targets of Sri Lanka till 2024. This brochure summarizes the information on resources requirement and proposed financial solutions to bridge the gap between existing situation and the best case scenario. 

Sri Lanka has one coal power generation facility and its creating significant impact on the terrestrial and marine biodiversity of the country. Still policy makers consider coal as a good option as initial capital investment  and per unit cost of production is lower than other options available for the country. The 'cheap' image for coal has been created by lobby groups who neglect the social and environmental costs associated with the coal power production. BIOFIN works with the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to understand the market externalities associated with coal power production. Objective of this exercise is to increase awareness on the actual impact of coal on the country and therefore advocating a comprehensive costing formula to be adopted in decision making process related to future power generation plans preparation.

Sri Lanka has one coal power generation facility and its creating significant impact on the terrestrial and marine biodiversity of the country. Still policy makers consider coal as a good option as initial capital investment  and per unit cost of production is lower than other options available for the country. The 'cheap' image for coal has been created by lobby groups who neglect the social and environmental costs associated with the coal power production. BIOFIN works with the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) to understand the market externalities associated with coal power production. Objective of this exercise is to increase awareness on the actual impact of coal on the country and therefore advocating a comprehensive costing formula to be adopted in decision making process related to future power generation plans preparation.

Sri Lankan FNA estimated the additional financial requirement (assuming that the government will maintain its current level of investments for the next six years) to implement four national level action plans (including NBSAP) which contained biodiversity related outputs. Altogether Sri Lanka needs approximately 31 Billion LKR (190 million USD) within next seven years.

Biodiversity Expenditure Review in Sri Lanka reviewed the 2010-2015 period to assess the investments made on the biodiversity sector. It revealed the government has increased investments on biodiversity by 125% during the period but still couldn't facilitate the full achievement of national biodiversity targets. Annual projected investment from the government side is approximately 7 billion LKR which is equivalent to 45 million USD.

Excutive Summary of the Polices and Institutional Review conducted in Sri Lanka identifies supportive factors as well as factors that hinder the achievement of national biodiversity targets. The full report of PIR discuss these aspects in detail. 

Environmental Economic Valuation Review was conducted to compile a list of environmental valuations conducted in Sri Lanka. Even though various researchers have been conducting environmental valuation researches, there was no compilation of the researches so most of the practitioners could not access these information. This document describes the methodology adopted and a list of researches. Please refer to the EEVR Sri Lanka -Easy Access Guide for web links to the published researches. BIOFIN Sri Lanka team appreciates the contributions of researchers who voluntarily contributed to this effort.