Report warned rushed projects would harm jumbos
A high-level report in 2018 warned that expedited development projects in the Hambantota area would affect the survival of elephants.
In his Performance Report on Department of Wildlife March 2018, then Auditor General H.M. Gamani Wijesinghe stated, “As the wild elephant management reserve in Hambanthota was not declared, the expedited development projects taking place in those areas [had a severe impact] on the corridors and habitats of fauna including wild elephants. As such, it is concluded that human-elephant conflict in such areas will escalate.”
This forecast proved to be too true as the following year saw the worst in human-elephant conflict, with 405 elephant deaths by humans and 121 human deaths by elephants, according to the Department of Wildlife.
Most deaths were caused by human encroachment into elephant habitats, the fragmentation of habitats and deprivation of the elephants’ natural grounds and movement.
The report found that the authorities had failed to establish the proposed Hambantota Wild Elephant Management Reservation for the protection of wild elephants prior to the construction of the Hambantota Harbour and Mattala Airport as required by the Environment Impact Assessment Reports of both projects.
Sri Lanka recorded the highest annual elephant deaths and second highest human deaths in the world last year, according to the Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts (COPA).
Environment activist and lawyer Raveendranath Dabare called for islandwide reserves facilitating the unhindered movement of elephants without human interference.
“We have filed a writ application in the Court of Appeal seeking orders compelling relevant authorities to set up country-wide elephant management reserves based on years-long scientific observations of movement of elephants,” he explained. He noted that construction of electric fences should only be carried out by government authorities. “The erection of electric fences by individuals and private parties haphazardly everywhere has aggravated human-elephant conflict,” he stressed.