ELEPHANT CORRIDORS ALONE WON'T SOLVE HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT, WARNS EXPERT

Environmental advocate Supun Lahiru Prakash has raised concerns about the effectiveness of simply designating elephant corridors in resolving Sri Lanka’s long-standing human-elephant conflict.

Prakash’s remarks come in response to the government’s recent move to designate three regions in the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts as official elephant corridors. He argues that while this approach may be part of the solution, it is far from a comprehensive fix.

“We think that this decrease is because the government and the department of wildlife conservation stopped drives during the year 2024, and at the same time, they didn’t send any elephants to the elephant holding ground in Horowpothana. On the other hand, there are more than 200 seasonal electric fences erected along the stretches in the conflict areas,” Prakash noted, referencing a recent reduction in human-elephant fatalities.

However, he expressed deep concern about the government's decision to restart the controversial practice of relocating elephants to holding grounds.

 “If you go through the human-elephant conflict incidents during the past few years, it was at a sharp rise. That means there is no such impact of declaring this kind of elephant corridor on the human-elephant conflict. This is because 40% of the elephant home ranges are outside the protected areas,” he explained.

The environmentalist emphasised that an integrated, multi-pronged approach involving a wide range of stakeholders is necessary to tackle the issue more effectively.

This includes collaboration between the forest department, agricultural ministries, the Mahaweli Authority, and the Department of Irrigation.

Prakash also highlighted that a comprehensive action plan addressing the human-elephant conflict already exists, but it remains largely unimplemented.

“I strongly believe that such a plan was created by a committee appointed by the president in 2020, and it was handed over to the president in December 2022, which is the national action plan for the mitigation of human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. The action plan itself mentions that it should be implemented by a Presidential task force,” he said in this regard.