Analysis on Sustainable Solutions for Human Elephant Conflict

As explained in our previous article about human elephant conflict (HEC) and how it is aggravated by climate change, the intensity of the HEC in Sri Lanka has been rapidly increasing with the changes in weather pattern changes and its consequences. Due to the damages happening from elephants to the crops and human settlements, some people are starting to blame elephants and their existence in the ecosystem, stating that elephants are responsible for large scale crop damages and property destructions in rural areas. Let’s have a look at human elephant conflict, climate change and mitigation methods.  

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, it has been confirmed that 40% of the annual crops are destroyed by wild animals such as wild boar, monkeys, peacocks, giant squirrels, wild elephants, and porcupines in the year 2019. Read more about crop damage here  Archived.

Evidently, elephants are not the only species that destroy agricultural crops. Supun Prakash, an expert in elephant research stated that their range is mostly limited to the dry zone and are rarely found ranging in the wet zone. Additionally, there were no records of damage caused to farmlands by elephants in the wet zone. Since this is an area specific problem, elephants are not to be blamed but rather the poor land management strategies.

Elephants are a keystone species whose survival is essential for its ecosystem to thrive. Hence, strategies implemented to conserve wild elephants will in turn protect many other species and minimize climate change inducing factors. To save the elephants, conserving the forests and increasing the forest lands using methods like reforestation is necessary. Forests are the lungs of our planet which purifies air by absorbing CO₂. Not only do forests act as a Carbon sink but also regulate water flows. They provide catchment areas for rainwater, minimizing soil erosion. They also provide migrating plant and animal species resilient habitats. Hence, better-managed elephants save forests and help reduce vulnerability to climate change and advance both mitigation and adaptation objectives.     

 The National Action Plan for Human Elephant Conflict Mitigation was forwarded by the Secretary to the President on the 22nd of July 2020. The committee conducted a review of all human-elephant conflict mitigation methods. Activities to be adopted for the National Action Plan were selected based on proven effectiveness, ability to be implemented at an appropriate geographic and time scale, and cost-effectiveness. We discussed this with Dr.Prithivaj Fernando, Chairman of this project and he elaborated on the main methods which can help to mitigate not only HEC but also climate change.   

 The main approach to HEC mitigation over the past decades was formalized in 1959 by ‘The Committee on Preservation of Wildlife’ appointed by the government. The plan called for ‘elephants to be driven along temporary corridors into permanent corridors and national reserves when development takes place’. For over 60 years much effort and funds have been expended in pursuit of this goal. According to the national action plan data, currently there is around 4,500 km of fencing erected by the department of wildlife conservation.

However, no improvement in HEC was observed according to the GPS records collected from elephant collars. Elephants were found ranging on both sides of these erected fences. Improper positioning of the elephant fences was a major cause for this project to fail. This has only driven wild elephants to be more aggressive further increasing the human-elephant conflict.

After that, an innovative electrical fence was developed by engineers. It is a hanging type fence that is taller than an adult elephant (usually 13.5ft) and it can’t break down easily. The head engineer, Prageeth Senarathna stated that it has an automation system that can be operated through a mobile device such as on/ off of electric passes. Also the device is capable of identifying breakdowns and any other shortages of the fence. As a sustainable step, the electric power of the fence is produced by solar energy.  This method was successful in the Wellawaya region. However, when it was applied to the Puttalam paddy field it was unsuccessful as elephants had adapted to use dry wood to break down the fence. Apart from this, several other innovative electric fences have been created. However, Sri Lanka has a lot of space for improvement in this area.

Coexistence between elephants and people does not mean allowing elephants to access settlements and cultivations. Elephants are naturally attracted to crops and given the opportunity they will consume them. Farmers and villagers obviously will not agree to crop consumption by elephants. Under the adverse effect of climate change, farmers hardly can afford to protect their crops from long droughts and flash floods. Pioneer elephant research scientist Dr. Pruthiviraj Fernando stated that elephants prefer to live in their native areas even if people try to drive them away. This is called their Home Range and they will always keep coming back.  In questioning whether there is a sustainable solution to this, he mentioned this can be avoided by creative management of traditional farming. When considering early Chena farming practices, they used shifting cultivation and after harvesting chena lands would be abandoned for two or three seasons (Kanna) which meant that the forests began to regrow in the area. Multiple plants regrow in these areas providing good supplements for herbivores such as elephants. For more details about chena farming visit here   Archived. Additionally, traditional farming helps reforestation since it helps mitigate climate change.  

Center for Conservation and Research (CCR) proposed a community-based electric fencing system. It is a temporary fencing system around the cultivation lands only for the time of cultivation. When harvested farmers should open up the farming land to elephants. Then elephants will get the opportunity to eat the remaining herbs (Ipanella) and saplings which will fulfills their food need. On the other hand, there is no loss to the farmer as there is no crop damage. This method was successfully followed in the Hambantota and Trincomalee districts. Accordingly, coexistence strategies between humans and elephants have been developed and has been included in the National Action Plan for the mitigation of HEC 2020. For detailed information about this methodology, visit here  Archived.

Also, the networks found within ecosystems help the plant propagation process. Each animal has a role to play which keeps the environment well nourished. Additionally, elephant dung helps seed germination and enhances germination success. Accordingly, elephants accelerate reforestation and helps mitigate climate change.