Post by Centre for a Smart Future

🌿 Conservation only truly works - and can be sustained - when it works for communities around protected areas. Centre for a Smart Future wrapped up a research project in partnership with Blue Resources Trust (BRT) to inform a project on reef-positive and community-based enterprise development in the Kaynakerni seascape on the east coast of Sri Lanka. Across the seascape, livelihoods and reefs are deeply connected - not just economically, but socially, culturally, and historically. This research explored what reef-positive development can look like in practice, where strengthening household resilience and reducing ecosystem pressure are not competing goals, but shared outcomes. Rather than proposing one-size-fits-all “alternatives”, the study focused on feasible pathways grounded in local realities, aspirations, environmental risks and the everyday decisions coastal communities make to sustain wellbeing. 📢 Stay tuned for more updates on our research findings. Medhini Igoor Anushka Wijesinha Blue Resources Trust (BRT) Biodiversity Sri Lanka IUCN