Neela de Zoysa

Neela de Zoysa is a Botanist with more than four decades of  experience in research, education and ecological conservation. She works independently in Massachusetts, US and in Sri Lanka leading research, teaching, mentoring young people and advocating for nature conservation with many organizations.

Neela began her career in 1982 conducting botanical research in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve at the Department of Botany University of Peradeniya. In 1986  she joined the Forest Department where she led the effort to bring wild rattan into cultivation and later completed the taxonomic revision of the Sri Lankan palms for the Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon. In 2015, she was involved with climate change policy formulation related to emissions from deforestation in Sri Lanka through the UN-REDD project.

She currently teaches about many aspects of New England plants at the Native Plant Trust, Boston Architectural College in Massachusetts, USA, and serves as a Councilor of the New England Botanical Society. She is currently involved in research on Sri Lankan palms and leading a pioneering botanical survey on an agricultural land practicing regenerative agriculture in Ampara District.

She is a graduate of University of Colombo and holds a Masters in Forestry from the University of Oxford.  She has received many recognitions and awards for her contribution. She mentors many young professionals sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm to reciprocate Mother Earth for the gifts we receive.