At a ceremony held in Hiyare, Galle amidst the presence of officials, Bank staff, CEO of Nations Trust Bank Mr Zulfiqar Zavahir together with Mr Methsiri De Silva Mayor of Galle and Anusha Madhura De Silva President of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle formally declared open the Biodiversity Breeding centre at the Hiyare Rainforest, a key aspect of the Biodiversity conservation project. Nations Trust Bank commenced this project last year as a part of the Bank's CSR initiative in partnership with the Galle Wildlife Conservation Society and the Municipal Council of Galle.

The project is centric to the Hiyare Rainforest -a scenic 600 acre rainforest which is situated in Galle and home to several endemic and rare species of fauna and flora. The conservation efforts focus on education programmes targeted at school children and undergrads - with detailed focus on the rich biodiversity in our country and aims at imparting valuable knowledge on the endemic and threatened species and the urgent requirement to take positive action towards preserving our rich animal and plant life. The Bank further supports the Workshop programmes that are full day detailed sessions tailor-made for the various groups such as school children, undergrads, private sector staff and nature enthusiasts. The workshop is an extensive programme that includes visits to the rainforest as well as hands on experience in understanding amphibians, reptiles etc. The Bank further supports the Society’s Animal Rescue Programme - an innovative effort that seeks to provide immediate medical and surgical care for injured wildlife. With the aim of providing surgical care, rehabilitation and finally release back to the wild, the Society to date has rescued and released several rare species of the hog deer, pythons, brahminy kites, whistling teals, eagles and snakes to name just a few.

"The project this year added yet another crucial element towards biodiversity conservation with the commencement of a breeding programme," said Anusha Madhura De Silva the President of the Galle Wildlife Conservation Society. "This is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka and what we have set out to do is a Breeding programme for 2 species of freshwater fish (Cuming’s Barb and Ornate Paradise Fish) that have been declared as ‘nationally threatened species’ as well as the endemic Anthropogenic shrub frog. This project aims at increasing the population of nationally threatened species, repopulating them at the Centre and thereafter after extensive study and field research we hope to reintroduce these back to areas where their population is low. We strongly believe that our study will be of immense value particularly in the future as scientists try to understand the behavior patterns of these species and in trying to regenerate the rare species. We are deeply indebted to Nations Trust Bank and the Municipal Council of Galle for their support and involvement that has made our efforts in Hiyare a success."

Zulfiqar Zavahir, Director/CEO of Nations Trust Bank PLC also added, "This project reiterates our commitment towards protecting the environment and its threatened biodiversity. Nations Trust Bank has a commitment towards making a positive contribution towards the people of Sri Lanka. Our CSR efforts are focused on long term, sustainable programmes and activities that seek to make a significant and lasting impact to society and the environment."

He further added, "As a Bank that understands its customers, we believe that our CSR activities should reflect our values. We also believe that such values should be an integral part of the bank culture and deeply ingrained within our staff. Therefore all projects will seek to include active and voluntary participation of our staff, customers and stake holders as far as possible." Nearly fifty Bank staff have visited Hiyare to gain the first hand experience of biodiversity conservation, and spent a day exploring the rainforest and gaining knowledge on the need to take action towards protecting the environment.