Dr. Anuradha Wickramasinghe, President of the Small Fishes Federation Lanka initiated an effort to protect mangroves in the Halawatha area in 1994 with United Nations Development (UNDP) funding and consultation with fishermen in Halawatha area. A new section was included in the Pambala Fisherman’s Community Hall situated in Pambala village under the leadership of Mr. Duglas Thesera, who represented the fishermen’s community. The first program was launched on 16^th November 1994. The main objectives were to establish mangrove planting nurseries and maintain mangrove samples, conduct awareness programs, conduct exhibitions, conduct programs collaborating with government agencies, advisory services, mangrove research programmes and to facilitate educational field visits. In addition to that, in 1996 with the funding of the Netherlands Embassy in Sri Lanka, a new mangrove center was built and all the above-mentioned objectives of the mangrove programme were continued. In 1998 a mangrove replanting programme was conducted in the Pambala Lagoon under the Community Environment Programme of the Ministry of Environment.

During 2015-2019, a Mangrove Conservation Programme was broadly carried out in the 14 coastal districts with the financial assistance of Seacology, a nonprofit organization located in the United States of America (USA) which focuses on protecting threatened island ecosystems around the globe. In 2014 attention was drawn to build a mangrove museum in the Pambala Mangrove Centre with the financial assistance of Seacology, and the then Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy, Susil Premajayantha supported the idea. July 26^th was declared by the minister in 2014 as the Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Day in the Pambala mangrove center and the Minister expressed his consent for the construction of the mangrove museum.  As a result, construction of the museum started as an essential part of the Sri Lanka Mangrove Conservation Project 2015 -2019.

The museum with cutting-edge new facility is the first of its kind and the vision is to share traditional and contemporary knowledge of mangrove ecosystems throughout the world. In a Ceremony attended by dignitaries, the then president of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena officially declared open the museum to the public on July 26^th 2016, the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem.

With the Covid outbreak that devastated the entire world, chairman of the  Small Fishers Federation Lanka assigned Mr. Douglas Tasera, the present Director of the museum  to sustain the work of this museum. Even though the 2015-2019 project was over by that time,  every attempt was made to  maintain the museum from 2020-2022 despite very tough financial conditions. In response to a request from  Mr. Douglas Tasera, Seacology agreed to provide financial assistance to continue the museum activities for two years since December 15, 2022. It was scheduled that  the museum will be registered as an independent organization  and will be named as the Lanka Mangrove Museum. 

It was arranged to register the Lanka Mangrove Museum at the Registrar of Companies as an association to ensure the sustainability of the museum activities with the partnerships of the government institutions responsible for mangrove conservation and experts of mangrove conservation from universities. Accordingly, the registration of the Lanka Mangrove Museum as an Association is  declared on 26^th July 2023.