Govt. ditches  National Action Plan for mitigation of human-elephant conflict?

By Ifham Nizam

The Department of Wildlife Conservation is planning to go ahead with the construction of 1,500 km of electric fencing in the protected areas, sidelining recommendations by the National Action Plan for the Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict; it has also not submitted proposals to the Committee of Public Accounts (COPA) headed by Prof. Tissa Vitharana.

A Wildlife Department official, disturbed by this ad hoc decision, told The Island, “Multi stakeholders including the Irrigation Department, Agrarian Department and Wildlife experts cannot be sidelined,” he stressed.

More than 100 elephants have been killed so far this year mostly due to electrocution, according to the Wildlife Department sources.

Wildlife Department’s Media Director Hasini Sarathchandra, contacted for comment, said the department would complete 1,500 km electric fencing soon.

State Ministry Secretary Maj General Palitha Fernando has directed Wildlife Department Director General Chandana Sooriyabandara to proceed with the move.

Sources alleged that the National Action Plan for the Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict prepared on the instructions of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had been pigeonholed at the Presidential Secretariat.

The action plan was prepared by a multi-stakeholder committee chaired by eminent Asian Elephant researcher and expert Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando and handed over to the government on December 17, 2020.