Human Elephant Conflict in Sri Lanka

Many species face increasing completion with people for space and resources. As human population gradually increased in recent decades, human elephant conflict problems are getting serious. This problem occurs due to the encroachment of human beings on animal habitats for agriculture or poaching activities. Many forests have been developed in to agricultural areas, because of economic interests. This has led to many elephants lost their habitats. These animals which lost their habitat would run in to our village for foods.

                             

                                                               As we all know, elephants need a big space for their lives. And also, no enough food for them in such areas.  These elephants move to our villages and destroy our paddy fields, farms and our home gardens. More over injury or death of people or elephants might be happened. There for people found solutions to stop this. Although farmers had tried to reduce elephant damage by guarding fields, digging trenches between the forest and fields, and modify their cropping patterns.

                    It did not reduce the human elephant conflict. Most of these methods are not efficiency to keep the elephants away from their cultivation fields. Shrinking of elephant habitats in one of the reasons that elephants need to go outside forests to search for food. It causes the human elephant conflict. Farmers who live in our areas have to look at the destroying areas such as paddy fields, gardens and their crops. Many of the farmers are using illegal methods chasing the elephants away from their farms.

                                           Long term resolution of human elephant conflict and promotion of peaceful coexistence requires a simultaneous focusing of management efforts on site specific consideration as well as the formulation and application of strategic plans at the landscape level that directly address underling anthropogenic drivers and their spatiotemporal variation.

                                                                                            I suggest that just as wild life needs are measured and mode led to improve conservation management planning, information about cultural values, norms and decision- marking regarding the spatial and temporal use of habitat to support local live hoods and house hold production are also valuable.  There for we all have a big responsibility to make a permanent solution to stop this human elephant conflict. Not only governments but also human beings have to pay their kind attention on this matter. I can suggest some solutions to solve this problem easily.

            In conclusion human – elephant conflict is increasing rapidly with the highest number of human and elephant death reported during last years. If prompt actions are not taken protected areas, corridors, electric fencing, acoustic and light devices, natural methods, compensation and risk transfer and awareness creation can all play a part in mitigating conflict and allow for a peaceful coexistence between humans and elephants. They will live in forests happily without disturbing us. If we let them to take their food and move freely.