Sevvandi Jayakody
Sevvandi Jayakody is a conservationist and echinodermologist from Sri Lanka, who is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Aquaculture & Fisheries at the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka. Career Jayakody has a BSc in Zoology from the University of Kelaniya and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Aberdeen. She also has a diploma in Wildlife Management and Conservation from the Wildlife Institute of India. She joined the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation as an Assistant Director in 1997, followed post-doctoral research at institutions in Scotland, Canada and Australia. She joined the Department of Aquaculture & Fisheries at the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka in 2001. In 2018 she was the National Coordinator for 18th Conference of the Parties of CITES. In 2021, after the submission of a report by Jayakody to Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, led to the creation of a Highly-Sensitive Marine Protection Zone from Mannar to Rameswaram. Outspoken on the subject of the climate crisis, Jayakody has commented on the necessity of restoration of mangrove habitats in Sri Lanka in order to act as carbon sinks and to protect coastlines from erosion. She is a member of the National Mangrove Expert Committee, as well as