The UK’s University of Hull is leading a new international research partnership on Colombo’s urban wetlands, backed by a £300,000 award under the British Academy’s International Interdisciplinary Research Projects 2026 programme.
Professor Stewart Mottram is heading the project, which aims to help the capital’s communities reimagine, protect and restore wetland ecosystems that sit within one of Asia’s most densely populated urban footprints.
Colombo’s wetlands provide critical flood mitigation and biodiversity support, but face sustained pressure from real-estate development, reclamation for infrastructure and climate variability. Hull said its expertise in flood resilience and water management is being extended into South Asia through the award, which sits within a broader British Academy programme targeting environmental challenges in lower- and middle-income countries.
The grant signals strong UK academic interest in Sri Lanka’s environmental governance. Colombo was designated a “Wetland City” by the Ramsar Convention in 2018 — the first capital in South Asia to receive the accolade — recognising a patchwork of canals, marshes and reservoirs including the Beddagana, Thalangama and Diyasaru reserves.
No local implementation partner, community scope or project timeline was named in the initial announcement. Previous Hull-led South Asian water projects have engaged municipal authorities alongside university researchers and civil-society groups.
Sri Lanka’s own Urban Development Authority and the Sri Lanka Land Development Corporation jointly steward the Colombo wetland network, which is cited regularly in national climate adaptation plans as a buffer against the city’s recurrent flash-flood events during the south-west monsoon.
