Human-wildlife conflict is undoubtedly the biggest conservation challenge facing Sri Lanka’s flora and fauna to date. Even though the conflict between humans and major species like elephants and leopards takes centre stage in Sri Lanka, the conflict goes beyond that and impacts many other wildlife species. Day by day, the competition for shared space between humans and wildlife grows more intense due to human population expansion and encroachment into wildlife habitat, deforestation, habitat fragmentation, livestock grazing in protected areas, and other land-use issues driven by man’s selfish and insatiable habits.
Supun Lahiru Prakash’s Wanapetha Handa Nagai (“The Exclamation of the Wilderness”) book is being released at a crucial time when Sri Lanka’s nature and wildlife is suffering greatly. The book, which primarily targets schoolchildren, aims to raise awareness about Sri Lanka’s human-wildlife conflict by compelling the reader to see the world through the eyes of the wildlife. The book is rich in high-quality photographs taken by some of Sri Lanka’s leading wildlife conservationists, photographers, as well as rangers from Sri Lanka’s Department of Wildlife Conservation. Written beautifully in Sinhala, using emotive language, the book aims to persuade the reader to become empathetic towards the day-to-day struggles faced by our wildlife. The book is dedicated to the brave field officers of the Department of Wildlife Conservation in Sri Lanka, who risk their lives daily to protect Sri Lanka’s precious wildlife species.
Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) is proud to join hands with Supun Lahiru Prakash on the inaugural release of his book and has printed 1,000 copies which are to be distributed free of charge to public libraries through the WNPS District Representatives Programme. The book will also be available for free download through the WNPS website from 3 September 2021.
Website: https://www.wnpssl.org/publications/
