Senior Consultants from Wharton Business School, through the Penn International Impact Consulting (PIIL), and the President of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS), participated in the recent launch of the new website, www.plantsl.org. Preserving Land and Nature (Guarantee) Ltd (PLANT), is a game-changing initiative that WNPS launched to bring private conservation to the fore in Sri Lanka.

President Jehan CanagaRetna kicked off the launch process during the WNPS February monthly lectures held at BMICH. He highlighted the need for initiatives such as PLANT in partnering with private landowners, DWC and government partners, and corporations, to create meaningful change. In 2020, WNPS established a Not-for-Profit company called PLANT, to raise funds, to acquire and/or set aside privately owned lands, directly or through Partners, for the purpose of conserving and holding land in Trust on behalf of future generations.

Emerald Trails is the main PLANT initiative, which seeks to build linking foliage corridors to connect key protected Forested areas in the South-Western part of Sri Lanka, which is where our nation’s highest biodiversity exists. Jehan emphasized the importance of protecting what we have as the primary priority. He disclosed that so far, PLANT has acquired some lands and also created land partnerships to cover over 2500 acres under a conservation footprint, which is well beyond the initial aspirations. PLANT is directly able to own some lands thanks largely to support from International Donors and some of these locations are home to as many as 150 endemic species. He shared an impressive list of Partners whom he thanked while also appreciating PLANT chairman Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne for his passion and commitment towards spearheading the initiative, along with the PLANT and WNPS teams. Thanking the PIIC team for the exciting strategic WNPS partnership, he welcomed them to the event.

The PLANT website was developed in partnership with PIIC (Penn International Impact Consulting), a student-led consultancy group at the University of Pennsylvania. Suhitha Kotala, who led the project from PIIC, along with her colleague Aarthi Katakam, joined the launch through zoom and spoke with the audience. PIIC, since its inception in 2005, has partnered with over 70 NGOs across the world to provide solutions to global problems in local communities. 

Most recently, PIIC had worked in countries such as Peru in South America, Morocco in the Middle East and Thailand and the Philippines in Asia. Recruiting students with diverse backgrounds, PIIC has been able to provide solutions in several industries themed around sustainable development. PIIC will work with PLANT across all its digital assets and strategy and will also support WNPS. 

Speaking at the launch Aarthi outlined the background of their consultancy, and how they were thrilled to be working with WNPS and PLANT over the past few months and were impressed with the speed of growth. She walked people through the website which provides an overview of the mission of PLANT and showcases some of their incredible properties with some amazing biodiversity. 

The site also features the Partners who have provided many forms of support and engagement on this, and she directed the audience to the interactive map which features all the locations that PLANT has an operating presence. Rich and striking images and videos enhance the quality of the site which is easily navigable and full of stories of each place and of many species. WNPS PLANT aspires to continue to bring like-minded parties together to form more connected spaces for all our endemic and other species, while also levering the new website to raise funds for Emerald Trails while bringing awareness to the cause. As the most active and largest Conservation entity in Sri Lanka, the WNPS team was extremely proud to see this journey gathering great momentum, and the efforts were well appreciated by the audience and partners.