Sri Lanka along with the Western Ghats is one of 34 biodiversity hotspots’ globally. Despite its small size of 65,701 km2, the island exhibits a wide array of ecosystems with a remarkable diversity of species, considered to be the richest per unit area in the Asian region.
Along its 1,620 km coastline, its rich marine and coastal biodiversity is supported by a number of habitats including coral reefs, mangroves, sea grassbeds, salt marsh vegetation, sand dunes and beaches.
However, much like the rest of Asia, these coastal ecosystems continue to be under threat from anthropogenic activities in coastal zones, where 25% of the island’s population is concentrated. Urbanisation,increasing tourism, pollution and particularly the growth of the fisheries sector have place heavy pressures on resources and biodiversity. Although Sri Lanka has the ability to generate vast revenue through sustainably harvested marine products, this is hindered by Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing, threatening opportunities in the export market greatly.
Bottom trawling is a particularly destructive form of fishing practice that causes irreversible damage to the marine environment by scraping the sea floor and in 2017 Sri Lanka banned the use of bottom trawl nets through the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Amendment) Act. However,failure to enforce the law has enabled some industrial scale fishermen to continue bottom trawling, which has led to immense ecological destruction and conflict with artisanal small-scale fishermen.
With the support of ADMCF, Environmental Foundation (Guarantee) Limited (EFL) are taking active steps to hold authorities accountable and improve good governance against bottom trawling in Sri Lanka, while encouraging the civil society to promote advocacy for environmentally sustainable economic growth.

Catalysing Change, in a Transforming World
November 11, 2021
Sophie le Clue
On 1st November, I stepped in to ADMCF’s CEO role following Lisa’s move into her new position at ADM Capital, building funds with a climate focus.  After 15 years steering ADM Capital Foundation, Lisa has joined our ...
Hong Kong
2020: Significant hardship and profound change
August 3, 2021
Lisa Genasci
In 2020, we marked 14 years since ADMCF’s launch and with this, our latest Annual Report, we detail our work over the year and the support received by so many of you. This has not been a usual time, however, and we capture in ...
Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Global, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Regional, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam
2019: Year in Review
June 15, 2020
Lisa Genasci
I am writing this amidst the current global public health crisis. We’ve shut down our economies and moved indoors in response. At ADMCF, we have been reflecting on what we can learn from this challenging moment and the role of ...
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