President appoints committee to facilitate and oversee implementation of National Action Plan to mitigate human-elephant conflict

Text and Pictures by PRIYAN DE SILVA 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a Presidential Committee, headed by former Director General of Wildlife Conservation, Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, to monitor the progress of the implementation of the National Action Plan for Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation.

 The National Action Plan for Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation was drawn up by a Presidential Task Force, appointed by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, which was headed by Dr Pruthuviraj Fernando of which Dr. Pilapitiya was a member. After much consultation with all stake holders, including the public, the final action plan was handed over to the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and no further action was taken until President Wickremesinghe took the initiative to implement it.

 The other members of the PC, appointed by President Wickremesinghe to facilitate and oversee implementation of National Action Plan to Mitigate Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC), are Dr. Pruthuviraj Fernando (Chairman Centre of Conservation and Research and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force appointed to draw up the National Action Plan for Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation), W.M.A.P.B. Wanninayake (Additional Secretary,  Ministry of Public Administration,  Home Affairs,  Provincial Councils and Local Government), H.D. Ratnayake (Additional Director, Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation), Chandrika V. Athugala (Additional Secretary, Ministry of Irrigation), R.M.R. Rathnayaka (District Secretary, Kurunegala), Janaka Jayasundera (District Secretary,  Anuradapura), A.H.M.L. Abeyrathne (Commissioner General,  Department of Agrarian Development), Chandana Sooriyabandara (Director General Department of Wildlife Conservation),

 Dr. K.M.A. Bandara (Conservator General of Forests), Eng. K.D.N. Siriwardena (Director General of Irrigation), Keerthi Kotagama (Director General of Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka), S.A.B. Herath (Director General in the Office of the Chief of Staff, Presidential Secretariat), and Malkanthi Rajapaksa, Senior Assistant Secretary to the President have been appointed as the Secretary to the Committee.

 In Sri Lanka over 300 elephants die due to HEC each year while the number of humans that are killed by elephants averages around 100.

 It was reported that HEC in Sri Lanka was at its highest in 2019 with 405 elephants and 121 humans losing their lives. The corresponding figures for 2020 was 318 elephants and 112 humans.

 According to statistics obtained from the Centre for Conservation and Research (CCR) between the period 2010 to 2019 14,516 incidents of Human Elephant Conflict had been reported. During which time 2631 elephants had been killed by humans and 807 humans had been killed by elephants while another 579 more had been injured. 10,532 incidents of property damage had also been reported.