Hemantha Withanage, Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice in Sri Lanka has been elected as the chair of Friends of the Earth International. Hemantha follows Karin Nansen of Uruguay, whose two terms as chair ended in June 2021.
A science graduate from the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka, Hemantha joined the environmental justice movement in 1990 as an environmental officer for the Environmental Foundation Ltd. In 2004, he co-founded the Centre for Environmental Justice - the most visible environmental organisation in Sri Lanka today. From 2005-2008, Hemantha was Executive Director of the Philippines based NGO Forum on ADB, a network of civil society organisations monitoring the Asian Development Bank - for which he has also been the elected International Convenor a number of times. Hemantha has held leadership positions in number of other regional and international networks and is a leading environmental activist in the Asia Pacific region. Hemantha was an elected member of Friends of the Earth International’s Executive Committee from 2010-2018.
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