Human Centric Approach To HEC Mitigation Is Not The Way
They have no voice… They are riddled with oozing bullet wounds, wrapped in rope to cause severe pain, and fed tasty food hidden in Hakka Pata which blows off parts of their jaws.
We Sri Lankans shout loudly about wild elephants and how much we love them, but the reality on the ground is unspeakably dire.
The eternal question is “Why?”
Why did Sri Lanka only pay lip service to curbing human-elephant conflict?
The answers we discussed at high-level meetings proved futile and what a handful of dedicated elephant researchers and conservationists shouted from the rooftops backed by solid research fell on deaf ears.
But conservationists will not be silenced and on August 15, former Director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), Dr. Sumit Pilapitiya, spoke out again on behalf of the voiceless elephants. He is an environmental scientist and elephant behaviourist whose love for Sri Lanka’s majestic elephants led him to leave the comfort of Colombo and relocate to Yodakandiya in southern Tissamaharama.
Along with him will be Botswana elephant expert Dr. Tempe Adams, who will be taking to the podium at the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Society (WNPS) monthly lecture at Jasmine Hall, BMICH, Colombo, from 6pm. This coincides with the celebration of World Elephant Day tomorrow (August 12). The lecture title is “Living with Wild Elephants: A Comparison of Botswana and Sri Lanka”.
Botswana has 130,000 elephants and a population of 2.7 million, with around 350 to 400 elephants killed annually, with human casualties mostly in single digits. Sri Lanka has 5,879 elephants and a population of around 22 million, according to the official census of 2011. In 2023 (last year), HEC claimed the lives of 476 elephants and 169 people.
Dr. Pilapitiya focuses on Sri Lanka’s failure to contain HEC. The containment model is outdated and based on a master plan from 1959 (65 years ago).
He says the crux of the problem is Sri Lanka’s attempt to confine elephants to DWC Protected Areas (PAs). HEC containment is being attempted with a human-centric approach without taking into account elephant biology, migration patterns and behavior. Trying to move all the elephants out of the reserve and into the sanctuary is like pouring a pitcher of water into a glass that is already full.
“It’s not possible,” he said, stressing that the elephants in the DWC reserve can be contained by installing electric fencing on its borders (the reserve), and the length of the fence currently reaches about 4,500 km. He used data collected by the Centre for Conservation and Research (CCR) under the guidance of dedicated researcher Dr. Prithviraj Fernando that was carefully collected.
Considering the situation in the country, Dr. Pilapitiya pointed out that the DWC reserve is surrounded by Forest Department Reserves and Other State Forests (OSFs). If more than 60% of the fence is in forests and elephants are on both sides of that fence, will the elephants understand the administrative boundary? The obvious conclusion is that fences within forests cannot protect people, crops or settlements, while elephants who lose access to parts of their habitat because of such fences must find new resources to survive. Thus, such fences tragically encourage them to raid.
According to Dr. Pilapitiya, fences should be built where protection is needed: on the borders of built-up areas.
He argues that in Sri Lanka, 44% of the population and elephants live in the same landscape and the path from conflict to coexistence is clear. Electric fences should not be a border but should separate humans and elephants from each other. These fences should be built at ecological boundaries and the support of the public, politicians and other government agencies is essential for DWC to implement this viable response to HEC.
He suggested “community-based fencing” and “seasonal agricultural fencing” and reiterated that currently around 70 villages are protected in this way and coexist in relative harmony with elephants, mainly with the support of CCR and DWC. This model has been tried, tested and perfected by CCR for over 15 years. Elaborating on the “seasonal fencing of rice fields”, he said that after harvesting, transportation and storage until the next season, the fences around the rice fields are removed to allow elephants to eat the crop residue used by farmers, which is a waste. Currently, around 25 or more paddy fields are protected in this way and humans and elephants co-exist. “Co-existence and co-living with elephants is possible if we all make an effort,” Dr. Pilapitiya added.