'Green jobs' awarded to environmentalist

Srilal Miththapala, Director/Chief Executive Officer of Serendib Leisure Management Ltd was awarded the 'Green Jobs' Environment Award in the category of Climate Change, at a ceremony organised by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources on Friday, June 5 to mark World Environment day.

Srilal Miththapala

The award was presented by the Minister for Agriculture, Irrigation and Mahaweli Development, Maithripala Sirisena and the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Patali Champika Ranawaka. The award was in recognition of the work he has done in the field of environment protection and carbon emission mitigation in the hotel sector.

It was fitting tribute to the CEO Serendib Leisure, under whose guidance and leadership, Hotel Sigiriya was developed into a benchmarked and environment conscious hotel in Sri Lanka over the past few years. The hotel has implemented many energy conservation and environment protection schemes and practices, and was the first hotel in Sri Lanka to calculate its carbon foot print.

Miththapala said "I am certainly very proud to receive this award in recognition of the work that has been done, but I must hasten to point out that this is a team effort by all my staff, and the consultant who worked closely on this ongoing project. They all really supported the initiatives we undertook, both from the head office and Hotel Sigiriya. So, in reality, this should be seen as an award won by the entire Serendib Leisure/Sigiriya team"

Srilal Miththapala has always been a strong environmentalist and Wild Life enthusiast. He is particularly interested in Wild Elephants in Sri Lanka and has done some research work at the Udawalawe National Park under the sponsorship of US Fish and Wildlife Services.

He has also written a book about elephants in Uda Walawe National park titled "Tranquil Footsteps".

He serves as the CEO of Serendib Leisure, which manages three of Sri Lanka's popular resort hotels, viz: Hotel Serendib , Hotel Sigiriya and Club Hotel Dolphin.He is also the current President of the Hotels Association of Sri Lanka