BY ROHAN WIJESINHA
Until 2011, no comprehensive scientific census had been carried out to record the number of wild elephants in Sri Lanka. Too much reliance had been placed on “educated guesses” that ranged from as many as 13,000 at the end of the 19th Century to some as ridiculously low as 1,500 in the early 1950s. Even in 2011, the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) could only make a reasoned estimate that there were 6,000 wild elephants in the country. This, too, may have been an under-estimation as, at that time, forests in the North and East could not be surveyed. Since then, the rate of attrition of this endangered species has been such that any revision in number would have to be below this figure.
The tolerance of the people
The Sri Lankan elephant Elephas maximus is considered a unique subspecies of the Asian Elephant. Since the 19th Century, with population growth, more and more land was needed for development, mostly for agriculture. Nevertheless, thanks to the culture of this country, the elephant had been largely revered. Apart from those hunted by the British colonial elite, for sport and to clear the highlands for tea, and a relatively few that were taken for use in temples or as working elephants, the majority were left unharmed in the wilderness of the lowland plains.
Traditional villagers had an understanding of living with elephants as neighbours. There was a communal responsibility for the protection of fields, with everyone working together to protect the ripening rice, and keeping elephants and other wild animals away from it. As such, today, wild elephants are found on 62% of the landscape of Sri Lanka, 44% of which they share with humans, the rest being National Parks and other protected areas.
The dangers of unplanned development
In the last 50 years, particularly with the development of extended irrigation projects, insufficient attention was paid to their effect on the wild elephants, and other wildlife, for whom these areas had been home. In addition, the new settlers had no experience of living with wild animals. As a result, the human-elephant conflict escalated and has now reached such a proportion that, on average, 350-400 elephants and 80-100 people die every year.
Barriers have to be placed to prevent elephants from encroaching on to human cultivation and habitation and, as at this time, the electric fence has proven to be the most successful in achieving this, provided it is erected in the right place and maintained well.
Putting things right
At present, there are enough electric fences to surround the island of Sri Lanka three times over. However, human-elephant conflict continues to rise. The logical conclusion is that the fences are in the wrong place. Over 70% have been placed on administrative boundaries i.e. between the Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Forestry Department lands, and it is easy to understand why there are elephants and elephant habitats on both sides of the fences. The fences should be placed on habitat boundaries i.e. between elephant habitat and human settlements.
As the prime purpose of the fences is to save lives, it follows that to keep people safe, the fences should be constructed around their villages and cultivations, leaving the elephants to roam on their traditional ranges outside of them. This has been piloted, by Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando of the Centre for Conservation and Research, at over 50 villages in three provinces of Sri Lanka, with a success rate of 100%. What adds to the achievement is that the responsibility for the maintenance of the fences is taken by the villagers themselves, through farmer and community groups. As in the olden times, there is, once again, communal responsibility for the protection of themselves and of their crops. These methodologies have been enshrined in the National Policy for the Protection of the Wild Elephant in Sri Lanka, and in the National Action Plan for the Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict, both of which await proper implementation.
Each needs the other
Economists in Sri Lanka have recently estimated that a wild elephant is worth $11 million to the country if allowed to live to its full span of life (www.ft.lk/columns/A-cut-tree-a-dead-elephant-is-a-lost-tourism-dollar-in-the-future/4-709347). Tourism contributes 5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), and nature-based tourism constitutes a substantial part of that. The Minneriya National Park is known throughout the world for its seasonal “gathering” of elephants, the largest congregation of Asian elephants in the World, and the Uda Walawe National Park is a place where one is guaranteed the sight of a wild elephant on 365 days of the year, at any hour of the day. This high visibility of wild elephants continues to draw foreign visitors to these parks which, in turn, power the local economies.
No studies have been done on the carrying capacity for elephants in Sri Lanka, or whether the remaining populations are genetically secure. What is certain, however, is that Sri Lanka needs its wild elephants, not just for their economic worth, but also as keystone species. They are vital for the health and well-being of the remaining wilderness, and its inhabitants. With their vast appetites and need for water, it is also a necessity that they continue to occupy the 62% of the landscape that they do now. For this, wild elephants need people, and their continued tolerance; each one needing the other for their continued welfare, and survival.
(The author is the former General Secretary of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society [WNPS], the current invited member of the society’s Human-Elephant Conflict Sub-Committee, and the immediate Past Chair of the Federation of Environmental Organisations [FEO])
BOX
The history of wildlife protection in Sri Lanka is almost synonymous with that of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka. At 128 years old, the WNPS is the third oldest non-governmental organisation of its kind in the world and was responsible for the setting up of the Wilpattu and Yala National Parks in Sri Lanka, and of the formation of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).