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| Monday, 27 September 2004 |
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'National Policy essential to find lasting solution' by Florence Wickramage A National Policy, an Emergency Action Plan and a Coordinated Approach by related Ministries are essential to find a lasting solution to the escalating Human-Elephant Conflict which has so far not been successfully resolved, former Additional Secretary of the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry and Working Director of the National Water Supplies and Drainage Board Sunil Sarath Perera said recently. Perera added that the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC) could not alone solve this conflict. Related state departments such as the Forestry, Mahaweli etc should coordinate efforts with the DWLC to protect the remaining elephant population in the country, both wild and tame. For this purpose traditional knowledge, expert advice and on-going research was also essential. Sunil Sarath Perera said that opinions have been expressed that the solar-powered Electric Fence was not a successful deterrent to prevent elephants wandering into chena and other agricultural cultivations. Being intelligent animals there have been instances where elephants had broken the electric fences to go into cultivated areas in search of food. Villagers have also expressed concern that pregnant she-elephants have fallen victims to electric fences. Therefore, finding alternatives to an electric fence have become necessary, Perera said. Elephants and villagers have lived in harmony for centuries due to various traditionally accepted methods adopted to protect cultivated land from marauding elephants. Among them were the planting of several kinds of plants and bushes along the borders of chena and other cultivations. In addition an Elephant Fund to support elephant conservation efforts and an insurance scheme for villagers living on the borders of elephant land would ensure the well-being of both the elephant and the villager, Sunil Sarath Perera observed. |
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