Assistant Manager (Planning)
Marine Environment Protection Authority, Sri Lanka
Dinishiya Athukorala is a marine environment professional with 10 years of experience in environmental management, policy development, and strategic planning. She currently serves as Assistant Manager (Planning) at the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) in Sri Lanka. In this role, she has played a key part in shaping national policies and strategies related to SDG 14, National Biodiversity Targets (NBT), and the GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling Partnerships project. She also plays a central role in preparing institutional consent reports for Sri Lanka’s international commitments on coastal and marine environmental protection. Additionally, she served as the coordinator for the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) Advisory Mission in 2024, which focused on upgrading the country’s oil and chemical spill contingency plans.
Ms. Athukorala began her career with a training period at the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat in 2015 before joining MEPA in 2016. Her research interests include strengthening marine biosecurity in Sri Lanka and conducting natural resource damage assessments for oil spills. She has also contributed to significant research in areas such as the Waste Reception Facility at Colombo Port, coral reef health assessments, and surveys on marine invasive species, macro debris, and port biological baseline studies.
Ms. Athukorala holds a Master of Science in Maritime Affairs, specializing in Ocean Sustainability Governance and Management, from the World Maritime University in Sweden. She also holds a Master’s in Environment Management from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Fisheries and Marine Sciences, specializing in Oceanography and Marine Geology, from the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka.
In addition to her professional work, she is an active member of several professional associations. She serves as the Treasurer of the Sri Lanka WMU-Sasakawa Alumni and is a life member of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS).