Sri Lanka possesses territorial waters in an area of 21,700 square kilometres up to12 nautical miles. Rich with marine life the country is listed as one of the top 5 plastic polluters in the world. Poseidon Army is youth based project started to conserve the coastal belt and empower communities for coastal conservation in the country. Through the project the youth engage in carrying out conservation activities around the coast and conducting research to bring up a strategy towards protection
Sri Lanka has a huge potential to develop enhancing its marine resources in the country. Currently Sri Lanka listed one of the top marine polluters and it is a threat to rich marine life in Sri Lanka. Lack of education among communities , lack of women participation for coastal conservation, waste lying in the sea, Lack of research on marine resources is a major issue in Sri Lanka. climate change has caused major threats in depleting the marine eco systems in the country.
Poseidon Army is a youth led project continuing to conserve coastal areas of Sri Lanka. Through the project cleaning the coral reefs, conducing research to protect areas and public engagement on coastal conservation. We hope to protect 15% of the coastal belt through our efforts and we hope to see inclusive participation of women for coastal protection and conservation. We hope to train more women to increase the level of women participation for coastal conservation.
Creating a youth led workforce in the country for coastal conservation is a long term achievement we are looking at. Increase women participation on coastal and marine research by training them and this will support to strengthen the blue economy in Sri Lanka as women percentage is 52% in Sri Lanka. Reef restoration to bring the coral reef alive and reef cleaning activities needs to be carry out to reduce the marine pollution in the coastal belt. Hopes to provide a marine school curriculum.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
