Competing for Space In Sri Lanka

As climate conditions worsen, land suitable for agriculture shrinks as does habitat for wildlife.  In Sri Lanka the competition between humans and wild elephants for living space is intensifying.  Last year reports The Guardian, 176 people died in elephant encounters on the island while 470 elephants were killed.  That is double the number of elephant deaths in 2010.  These figures make Sri Lanka the worst country in the world for elephant-human conflict.

In 1997 the island was 30% covered by trees or nearly 20,000 sq. km.  By 2022 it lost 2100 sq. km of cover.  As global warming progresses,  rivers are drying up and rainfall becomes erratic making existing agricultural land less productive.  More habitat is cleared, often illegally,  forcing elephants to cross human settlements to obtain food and water.  Elephants increasingly resort to raiding fields and storehouses to survive as natural resources dwindle.   Residents resort to increasely cruel methods to defend their homesteads from raiders.  A man in the village of Hambatota on the south-east coast killed four elephants in one night by connecting his home electricity main to a fence.  He was let off by authorities with a small fine.  Other recent incidents include shooting, poisoning, and so-called "jaw bombs"--explosives hidden in bait that go off in an elephant's mouth. [photo credit: TheIslandOnline.lk]

Wild elephants play an economic role in Sri Lanka as star attractions of the tourist trade; the country needs foreign exchange. Conservationists want the elephants protected from humans. Humans want protection from raiding elephants. There are ways to coexist, but it will take sincere efforts on the part of Sri Lankans to learn these methods and use them effectively to control their wild neighbors. The country's first elephant research center was opened last year in Anuradhapura with the help of a tourist hotel. The center will study elephant behaviors and habits to help avoid conflicts. Community fences powered by batteries not electric mains are one solution to keeping elephants at bay. Enforcing laws protecting elephant habitats and providing corridors for traditional elephant walks are also effective deterrants to conflict. What is needed most of all is human toleration and respect in a dire situtation the elephants did not create.