By Yumiko Perera
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"Sri Lanka appears to have only one strategy for mitigating HEC, and that is to confine elephants into DWC PAs. It is quite obvious that this strategy has not worked and will not work regardless of who orders it, and yet, successive governments keep pursuing this same, failed strategy" Eminent wildlife researcher, environmentalist, and former DWC DG Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya[/caption]
Over the last few decades, the human-elephant conflict (HEC) that has plagued Sri Lanka has been further exacerbated by the large-scale irrigation and agriculture projects that have been initiated in the country. Elephants are creatures that occupy large home ranges and are known to travel vast distances in search of food and water. Various development projects, construction, roads, and human settlements have encroached into their habitats, cutting off major migratory routes.
Each year, reports of crop damage, property damage, along with human and elephant deaths continue to soar, and the numbers are staggering. The ever-growing human population and its need for land and agricultural development, coupled with the reality that present-day elephant habitats extend into and overlap with agricultural lands, has resulted in an inevitable conflict between man and elephant.
Speaking with The Sunday Morning, Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) Spokesperson Hasini Sarathchandra said: "We believe that there are approximately 6,000 elephants in Sri Lanka. There is a reasonably stable growth in the elephant population, especially considering the numbers in the past few years.”
According to the statistics acquired by the DWC, 407 elephants had been found dead in the year 2019 and the number of human casualties in the same year had been rounded up to 122. While 319 elephants had been found dead last year, 114 human lives were lost. Each year, between 150-200 elephants are killed due to the HEC.
Elephant deaths are notoriously difficult to estimate, especially given that the carcasses found in the forest reserves are usually putrefied, making it harder for authorities to identify the cause of death. “Some of these elephants had died due to natural causes. However, most of these elephants had fallen victim to ‘hakka patas’,” added Sarathchandra.
A huge threat to Sri Lanka’s dwindling elephant population, “hakka patas” is a small, improvised explosive device used by farmers to keep wild animals away from crops, and it’s often swallowed by unsuspecting animals. The animals suffer a great deal from these illegal devices, as it destroys the animal’s mouth cavity. The animal eventually becomes emaciated from the inability to chew and swallow food.
Eminent wildlife researcher, environmentalist, and former DWC Director General Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, speaking with The Sunday Morning, shed light on the topic. “Many large-scale irrigation projects, like the Gal Oya project and the accelerated Mahaweli Development Project, created large irrigation reservoirs for agriculture, and successive governments started colonising the Dry Zone with people from other parts of the country for agriculture. This resulted in large tracts of forest land being opened up for cultivation, which had been inhabited by elephants. The more unplanned development that takes place, the more fragmented the forests become; connectivity between forests are lost so elephants and humans come into contact. This contact, if not managed properly, leads to conflict.”
According to Dr. Pilapitiya, for over 60 years, Sri Lankan authorities have been trying to confine elephants to the DWC Protected Areas (PAs) and fence them into such areas with electric fences. While humans may understand administrative boundaries, elephants don’t. Elephants travel on ecological boundaries.
While a large population of wild elephants being confined to a limited roaming range would inevitably result in frequent conflicts, there still isn’t a cohesive population management strategy in place when it comes to elephants.
The farmers’ plight
A little over 50 days have lapsed since the farming community of Walsapugala, a village gravely affected by the HEC in the Hambantota District, had commenced a satyagraha demanding authorities to gazette a proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve (EMR). Supported by 86 agrarian associations in the area, the farmers have had to take matters into their own hands, as their pleas went unheard. Although the reserve was originally proposed over a couple of decades ago, the farmers believe it would help bring some sort of relief to the ongoing threat they face from elephants.
Speaking with The Sunday Morning, Walawa Wam Iwura Farmers’ Association General Secretary Saman Sudarshana stated: “The farmers are under intense pressure because of this issue and have been for a long time. Although the Wild Elephant Management Reserve was proposed a long time ago, the authorities have failed to gazette it yet.”
According to Sudarshana, owing to the immeasurable number of illegal activities happening within the forest reserve, elephants have opted to come to villages in search of food and water sources. Emphasising the imminent threat farmers and elephants alike are facing, he further noted that the farmers firmly believed getting the Wild Elephant Management Reserve gazetted would indeed bring some much-needed relief to the farmers.
Adding to that, he said: “Minister Chamal Rajapaksa promised us we would be provided with solutions within a month when he had visited us. We were told that we would be informed about the regulations that will be in place, but we have been kept in the dark so far. We were also told that the illicit activities that are going on inside the forest would be dealt with but nothing has happened with regard to that either. Up until now, even within the last 24 hours, illegal farming has been going on inside the forest reserve.”
Installing a new electric fence in place of the existing fence and putting down proper measures in place to stop illegal encroachment in the Hambantota District, are amongst the demands the farmers had made, noted Sudarshana.
The farmers staged a protest along the Colombo-Kataragama Main Road on 10 March, which obstructed the movement of traffic from Ambalantota town. Mahinda Samarawickrama, a union representative, noted: “After a discussion with the District Secretary, we were handed a letter stating measures would be put in place to gazette the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve. We have agreed to give the authorities a month more to process the legalities. Although we halted the demonstration, the satyagraha would continue until the rest of our demands have been met.”
In a letter addressed to the District Secretary of the Hambantota Administrative District on 10 March 2021, citing the progress pertaining to the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve, DWC Director – Operations Ranjan Marasinghe clarified that legal provisions are being drafted and proper measures are indeed being put in place to gazette the said proposal. Marasinghe noted the procedure of publishing the gazette notification for the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve may require a month at the very least.
Speaking with The Sunday Morning, Minister of Wildlife and Forest Conservation C.B. Rathnayake noted: “While cabinet approval has been given to the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve, we fully understand the severity of the issue. Upon the delimitation of the geological boundaries, measures would be put in place to gazette the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve as soon as possible.”
Are electric fences a tangible solution?
“Sri Lanka at present has about 4,500 km of electric fencing in various parts of the country. Whilst most fences have elephants on both sides, making the fence futile, we keep erecting fences and the conflict keeps escalating every year. Sri Lanka appears to have only one strategy for mitigating HEC, and that is to confine elephants into DWC PAs. It is quite obvious that this strategy has not worked and will not work regardless of who orders it, and yet, successive governments keep pursuing this same, failed strategy. Unfortunately, these decisions are politically motivated with short-term goals in mind,” added Dr. Pilapitiya.
If humans and elephants share 44% of the landscape, then we have to manage elephants within this landscape in a way it will not harm people, property, and crops, observed Dr. Pilapitiya.
The National Policy for Conservation and Management of Wild Elephants, approved by the Government in 2009, explicitly states that elephants have to be managed within the landscape that they share with humans. This policy was prepared by the DWC in collaboration with technical experts. The policy provides a conceptual framework to address HEC on a sustainable basis. However, the policy has not been implemented and different politicians of successive governments try their hand at solving this problem and fail. Dr. Pilapitiya believes if the authorities considered solutions based on the national policy, it may actually work.
According to Dr. Pilapitiya, the present Government had appointed a presidential committee to prepare a National Human Elephant Conflict Mitigation Action Plan in 2020. The action plan was prepared by a multi-stakeholder committee, of which he too was a member. A number of activities have been proposed to provide immediate relief to the affected public from elephant depredation, which includes constructing community-based electric fences such as village and paddy field fences.
“Where community involvement is not possible, the Government is to construct and maintain the fences. Electric fences with elephants on both sides are to be relocated to the ecological boundary – the boundary between forest and developed areas. The plan recommends that activities that may increase conflict, such as elephant drives, be minimised or discontinued after evaluation. Continuation and further strengthening of compensation for deaths, injuries, and property damage has been recommended. Insurance initiatives and plans for clearing of road verges or installing street lighting at critical locations for preventing accidental deaths by elephants are to be developed and implemented.”
While conducting awareness programmes has been proposed to decrease human and elephant deaths, Dr. Pilapitiya, in conclusion, noted: “A road map for addressing HEC comprehensively has been given to the Government. Based on my experience of working on HEC issues in Sri Lanka and in many Asian and African elephant range countries, I think that this action plan is among the best and most practical plans I have seen. Now, it remains to be seen whether this will be implemented. If the Government does implement this plan fully, even on a district-by-district basis, I am very confident that we can get the conflict under control in a few years.”
No. of deaths due to HEC
Source: Department of Wildlife Conservation
"Sri Lanka appears to have only one strategy for mitigating HEC, and that is to confine elephants into DWC PAs. It is quite obvious that this strategy has not worked and will not work regardless of who orders it, and yet, successive governments keep pursuing this same, failed strategy" Eminent wildlife researcher, environmentalist, and former DWC DG Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya[/caption]
Over the last few decades, the human-elephant conflict (HEC) that has plagued Sri Lanka has been further exacerbated by the large-scale irrigation and agriculture projects that have been initiated in the country. Elephants are creatures that occupy large home ranges and are known to travel vast distances in search of food and water. Various development projects, construction, roads, and human settlements have encroached into their habitats, cutting off major migratory routes.
Each year, reports of crop damage, property damage, along with human and elephant deaths continue to soar, and the numbers are staggering. The ever-growing human population and its need for land and agricultural development, coupled with the reality that present-day elephant habitats extend into and overlap with agricultural lands, has resulted in an inevitable conflict between man and elephant.
Speaking with The Sunday Morning, Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) Spokesperson Hasini Sarathchandra said: "We believe that there are approximately 6,000 elephants in Sri Lanka. There is a reasonably stable growth in the elephant population, especially considering the numbers in the past few years.”
According to the statistics acquired by the DWC, 407 elephants had been found dead in the year 2019 and the number of human casualties in the same year had been rounded up to 122. While 319 elephants had been found dead last year, 114 human lives were lost. Each year, between 150-200 elephants are killed due to the HEC.
Elephant deaths are notoriously difficult to estimate, especially given that the carcasses found in the forest reserves are usually putrefied, making it harder for authorities to identify the cause of death. “Some of these elephants had died due to natural causes. However, most of these elephants had fallen victim to ‘hakka patas’,” added Sarathchandra.
A huge threat to Sri Lanka’s dwindling elephant population, “hakka patas” is a small, improvised explosive device used by farmers to keep wild animals away from crops, and it’s often swallowed by unsuspecting animals. The animals suffer a great deal from these illegal devices, as it destroys the animal’s mouth cavity. The animal eventually becomes emaciated from the inability to chew and swallow food.
Eminent wildlife researcher, environmentalist, and former DWC Director General Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, speaking with The Sunday Morning, shed light on the topic. “Many large-scale irrigation projects, like the Gal Oya project and the accelerated Mahaweli Development Project, created large irrigation reservoirs for agriculture, and successive governments started colonising the Dry Zone with people from other parts of the country for agriculture. This resulted in large tracts of forest land being opened up for cultivation, which had been inhabited by elephants. The more unplanned development that takes place, the more fragmented the forests become; connectivity between forests are lost so elephants and humans come into contact. This contact, if not managed properly, leads to conflict.”
According to Dr. Pilapitiya, for over 60 years, Sri Lankan authorities have been trying to confine elephants to the DWC Protected Areas (PAs) and fence them into such areas with electric fences. While humans may understand administrative boundaries, elephants don’t. Elephants travel on ecological boundaries.
While a large population of wild elephants being confined to a limited roaming range would inevitably result in frequent conflicts, there still isn’t a cohesive population management strategy in place when it comes to elephants.
The farmers’ plight
A little over 50 days have lapsed since the farming community of Walsapugala, a village gravely affected by the HEC in the Hambantota District, had commenced a satyagraha demanding authorities to gazette a proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve (EMR). Supported by 86 agrarian associations in the area, the farmers have had to take matters into their own hands, as their pleas went unheard. Although the reserve was originally proposed over a couple of decades ago, the farmers believe it would help bring some sort of relief to the ongoing threat they face from elephants.
Speaking with The Sunday Morning, Walawa Wam Iwura Farmers’ Association General Secretary Saman Sudarshana stated: “The farmers are under intense pressure because of this issue and have been for a long time. Although the Wild Elephant Management Reserve was proposed a long time ago, the authorities have failed to gazette it yet.”
According to Sudarshana, owing to the immeasurable number of illegal activities happening within the forest reserve, elephants have opted to come to villages in search of food and water sources. Emphasising the imminent threat farmers and elephants alike are facing, he further noted that the farmers firmly believed getting the Wild Elephant Management Reserve gazetted would indeed bring some much-needed relief to the farmers.
Adding to that, he said: “Minister Chamal Rajapaksa promised us we would be provided with solutions within a month when he had visited us. We were told that we would be informed about the regulations that will be in place, but we have been kept in the dark so far. We were also told that the illicit activities that are going on inside the forest would be dealt with but nothing has happened with regard to that either. Up until now, even within the last 24 hours, illegal farming has been going on inside the forest reserve.”
Installing a new electric fence in place of the existing fence and putting down proper measures in place to stop illegal encroachment in the Hambantota District, are amongst the demands the farmers had made, noted Sudarshana.
The farmers staged a protest along the Colombo-Kataragama Main Road on 10 March, which obstructed the movement of traffic from Ambalantota town. Mahinda Samarawickrama, a union representative, noted: “After a discussion with the District Secretary, we were handed a letter stating measures would be put in place to gazette the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve. We have agreed to give the authorities a month more to process the legalities. Although we halted the demonstration, the satyagraha would continue until the rest of our demands have been met.”
In a letter addressed to the District Secretary of the Hambantota Administrative District on 10 March 2021, citing the progress pertaining to the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve, DWC Director – Operations Ranjan Marasinghe clarified that legal provisions are being drafted and proper measures are indeed being put in place to gazette the said proposal. Marasinghe noted the procedure of publishing the gazette notification for the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve may require a month at the very least.
Speaking with The Sunday Morning, Minister of Wildlife and Forest Conservation C.B. Rathnayake noted: “While cabinet approval has been given to the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve, we fully understand the severity of the issue. Upon the delimitation of the geological boundaries, measures would be put in place to gazette the proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve as soon as possible.”
Are electric fences a tangible solution?
“Sri Lanka at present has about 4,500 km of electric fencing in various parts of the country. Whilst most fences have elephants on both sides, making the fence futile, we keep erecting fences and the conflict keeps escalating every year. Sri Lanka appears to have only one strategy for mitigating HEC, and that is to confine elephants into DWC PAs. It is quite obvious that this strategy has not worked and will not work regardless of who orders it, and yet, successive governments keep pursuing this same, failed strategy. Unfortunately, these decisions are politically motivated with short-term goals in mind,” added Dr. Pilapitiya.
If humans and elephants share 44% of the landscape, then we have to manage elephants within this landscape in a way it will not harm people, property, and crops, observed Dr. Pilapitiya.
The National Policy for Conservation and Management of Wild Elephants, approved by the Government in 2009, explicitly states that elephants have to be managed within the landscape that they share with humans. This policy was prepared by the DWC in collaboration with technical experts. The policy provides a conceptual framework to address HEC on a sustainable basis. However, the policy has not been implemented and different politicians of successive governments try their hand at solving this problem and fail. Dr. Pilapitiya believes if the authorities considered solutions based on the national policy, it may actually work.
According to Dr. Pilapitiya, the present Government had appointed a presidential committee to prepare a National Human Elephant Conflict Mitigation Action Plan in 2020. The action plan was prepared by a multi-stakeholder committee, of which he too was a member. A number of activities have been proposed to provide immediate relief to the affected public from elephant depredation, which includes constructing community-based electric fences such as village and paddy field fences.
“Where community involvement is not possible, the Government is to construct and maintain the fences. Electric fences with elephants on both sides are to be relocated to the ecological boundary – the boundary between forest and developed areas. The plan recommends that activities that may increase conflict, such as elephant drives, be minimised or discontinued after evaluation. Continuation and further strengthening of compensation for deaths, injuries, and property damage has been recommended. Insurance initiatives and plans for clearing of road verges or installing street lighting at critical locations for preventing accidental deaths by elephants are to be developed and implemented.”
While conducting awareness programmes has been proposed to decrease human and elephant deaths, Dr. Pilapitiya, in conclusion, noted: “A road map for addressing HEC comprehensively has been given to the Government. Based on my experience of working on HEC issues in Sri Lanka and in many Asian and African elephant range countries, I think that this action plan is among the best and most practical plans I have seen. Now, it remains to be seen whether this will be implemented. If the Government does implement this plan fully, even on a district-by-district basis, I am very confident that we can get the conflict under control in a few years.”
No. of deaths due to HEC
| Year | Human deaths | Elephant deaths |
| 2016 | 88 | 279 |
| 2017 | 87 | 256 |
| 2018 | 96 | 318 |
| 2019 | 122 | 407 |
| 2020 | 114 | 319 |