Rohan Pethiyagoda

Quick Facts

Full Name	Rohan Pethiyagoda
Occupation	Conservationist
Date Of Birth	Nov 19, 1955(1955-11-19)
Age	69
Birthplace	Colombo
Country	Sri Lanka
Birth City	Western
Horoscope	Scorpio

Rohan Pethiyagoda Biography

Rohan Pethiyagoda is one of the most popular and richest Conservationist who was born on November 19, 1955 in Colombo, Western, Sri Lanka. Born in Colombo (Sri Lanka), 19 November 1955. Secondary education at St Thomas’s College Mount Lavinia. B.Sc. (Eng.) Hons. Hons. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at King’s College University of London 1977; M.Phil. Biomedical Engineering, University of Sussex 1980.

Concerned by the rapid decline of montane forests in Sri Lanka, Pethiyagoda started a (still ongoing) project to convert abandoned tea plantations to natural forest. He was awarded the Rolex Awards for Enterprise.

In July 2012 Pethiyagoda and colleagues named a genus of South Asian freshwater fishes Dawkinsia in honour of the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, following which Pethiyagoda told AFP that “Richard Dawkins has through his writings helped us understand that the universe is far more beautiful and awe-inspiring than any religion has imagined”. Pethiyagoda also named the freshwater cyprinid genus Haludaria after the Begali youth known only as Haludar, who illustrated the fishes depicted in Francis Hamilton’s (1822) “Fishes of the Ganges”, the founder work of Indian ichthyology.

Pethiyagoda used the profits from the book to fund the Wildlife Heritage Trust (WHT). This foundation was established in 1990 to promote biodiversity exploration in Sri Lanka. Its business model consisted of publishing natural history books and channeling the revenues into exploration and research. WHT published 40 books between 1991 and 2012. These included widely-read titles like A field guide for the birds of Sri Lanka. This title was one of many titles that were translated into Sinhala by Pethiyagoda. The Biodiversity Window of World Bank/Netherlands Partnership Programme provided free access to 5,000 schools libraries with a grant. This program was the first to bring scientific texts on biodiversity in Sri Lankan local languages to young people.

Rohan Pethiyagoda Net Worth

Rohan Pethiyagoda is one of the richest Conservationist from Sri Lanka. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Rohan Pethiyagoda 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

Pethiyagoda was an engineer in the Division of Biomedical Engineering of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health from 1981 to 1982 and then as the director of this institution between 1982 and 1987. He was appointed concurrently chairman of the Sri Lanka Water Resources Board in 1984. From 2002 to 2004, he was the Government of Sri Lanka’s Advisor on Environment and Natural Resources. In 2005, he was elected Deputy Chair of IUCN Species Survival Commission. Pethiyagoda was elected in 2008 to the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature’s board of trustees. He had previously served a four year term as Deputy Chairman of the Assurance Group at the British American Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership. He was made a Research Associate at the Australian Museum in Sydney in 2009, and served as the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board from 2015 to 2018.

In 1987, he resigned from the government to begin work on a project to study the freshwater fishes in the island. This led to his first book Freshwater fishes Sri Lanka (1990), which is a detailed account of the country’s freshwater-fish fauna.

Rohan David Pethiyagoda (abbreviated to Rohan Pett by deed poll in 2010), is one of Sri Lanka’s leading naturalists and a taxonomist on Freshwater fish of Sri Lanka.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

Rohan Pethiyagoda height Not available right now. Rohan weight Not Known & body measurements will update soon.

Who is Rohan Pethiyagoda Dating?

According to our records, Rohan Pethiyagoda is possibily single & has not been previously engaged. As of December 1, 2023, Rohan Pethiyagoda’s is not dating anyone.

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Facts & Trivia

Rohan Ranked on the list of most popular Conservationist. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Sri Lanka. Rohan Pethiyagoda celebrates birthday on November 19 of every year.