The Commercial Bank of Ceylon has “adopted” a stretch of the Kalutara beach to ensure its maintenance in pristine condition free of waste and pollutants via a partnership with Biodiversity Sri Lanka (BSL).
As a corporate partner of BSL’s ‘Life to Our Beaches’ initiative, Sri Lanka’s largest private sector bank will fund the clean-up and continuing upkeep by a beach caretaker family, of a 500-meter stretch within the Kalutara Beach Park area, in front of the Kalutara South Railway Station.
The Life to Our Beaches programme brings together the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), the Department of Samurdhi Development (DoSD), Biodiversity Sri Lanka and corporate entities in a collective effort to clean up beaches and ensure the responsible disposal of collected waste, thereby contributing to the national objectives of biodiversity and environmental conservation.
Commercial Bank’s support will cover monthly payments to the beach caretaker family identified from Samurdhi beneficiaries in the area, the cost of equipment and other consumables, and the management and supervision of the maintenance of the beach.
According to BSL, the bulk of marine litter originates from mismanaged land based human activities, but the solid waste found on our shores is often not only of local origin but also washed up from overseas. The plastic, glass, aluminum, and rubber-based material found on beaches can be turned into valuable resources through upcycling and recycling, if collected and directed appropriately.
Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, Commercial Bank has supported numerous environment-related corporate and social responsibility activities, including a mangrove restoration project in Koggala, a marine turtle conservation initiative in Panama and the reforestation of a 100-hectare swath of degraded habitat belonging to the Kandegama forest in the Dimbulagala range of the Polonnaruwa District.
Biodiversity Sri Lanka is a national platform entirely owned and driven by companies from Sri Lanka’s private sector which have joined, and continue to support the cause of BSL, as its members. The mission of Biodiversity Sri Lanka, which began as the Sri Lanka Business and Biodiversity Platform (SLBBP) in August 2012, is “to mainstream biodiversity into the core business of companies through transformational approaches that involve multiple stakeholder collaborations as well as local, regional, and international interactions.”
Commercial Bank is the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World, and operates a network of 271 branches and 957 automated machines in Sri Lanka. The largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector and a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector, Commercial Bank has overseas operations that encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 20 outlets; Myanmar, where it has a Microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw; and the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake.
