Sepali De Silva

Sepali De Silva is a senior environmental policy professional from Sri Lanka with more than 20 years of experience in sustainable land management, drought risk management and multilateral environmental governance. She serves as Assistant Director for Natural Resources Management at the Ministry of Environment, Sri Lanka, which functions as the National Focal Point for the UNCCD. In this role, she leads national implementation of the Convention and supports the integration of UNCCD decisions into national policies, strategies and programmes.

Trained in geography, De Silva holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and a Master’s degree in Energy, Resources and Environmental Policy from Korea University, Republic of Korea. She also completed postgraduate studies in Natural Resources Management at the University of Peradeniya including research on land management practices in micro-watershed areas. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Human Rights in Human Development and Gender Justice at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka strengthening her ability to integrate human rights, gender equality and social inclusion into land and drought-related policies.

De Silva has played a key role in the formulation and implementation of Sri Lanka’s National Action Programmes to combat land degradation, national reporting to the UNCCD and the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme including LDN TSP 2.0. She coordinated the development and review of Sri Lanka’s National Drought Plan and contributed to regional drought risk management initiatives in South Asia. She also has extensive experience in designing and implementing projects supported by the Global Environment Facility, the Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund and is committed to contributing effectively to the Intergovernmental Working Group on the UNCCD Future Strategic Framework.