Villagers will maintain it

By Ifham Nizam

“For decades we didn’t have proper sleep, often with only one to two hours of continuous sleep each night for fear of elephants entering our homesteads and attacking us. Now thanks to this timely initiative we sleep well at night,” said senior citizen Subasinghe Dissanayake at the Launch of the Elephant – Human Conflict Mitigation Program at Bandi Wewa in Habarana recently. He said that villagers are happy to take on the maintenance work of the first fence erected.

 “They would take great care to maintain it properly as they can now at least sleep in peace. We will be happy if this program could be implemented countrywide,” Dissanayake said.The Bandi Wewa program would also ensure the safety of crops from wild elephants that are now kept away thanks to the fence, he said.

 Speaking on the occasion, former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said that Sri Lanka is now the world’s top human-elephant conflict victim. This is a 60-year problem that has worsened over the years. He praised the solution by way of installation of a community-based electric fence covering an area of 4.4 sq. kms. in the Bandi Wewa village near Ritigala as a model project in the Habarana area.

It is understood that the initiative for obtaining support for this project was taken by the former speaker.Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando – Chairman, Trustee and Scientist, Centre for Conservation and Research said that this electric fence is the most modern and strongest ever built here.

The program, which began in January 2022, is a joint project of the Conservation Research Institute, Cinnamon Hotel Group and TUI Foundation, with the coordination done by the Chairman of the National Movement for a Fair and Just Society, led by the former speaker. TUI is chaired by a former German minister who is very close to the Jayasuriya family. Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando and renowned Elephant Scientist, Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, who have been researching this issue for over 30 years contributed resources to this project.

Jayasuriya said that if this model can be implemented throughout the country, it will be a great strength. He gained much mental satisfaction talking to the villagers benefiting from it. This is a unique tripartite effort between the TUI Foundation in Germany, under its TUI Wildlife Sri Lanka segment, the Center for Conservation and Research (CCR), (scientific advisors to the project), and Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts who have undertaken coordination and assistance to the TUI Foundation in Germany.

Under the expert guidance of Dr. Prithviraj Fernando, Chairman, Trustee and Scientist at the Centre for Conservation and Research and his team, the project was implemented at this selected village. It is an extension of Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts’ existing ‘Cinnamon Elephant Project’ which has been running for the past six years under the guidance of Dr. Prithviraj Fernando in the Minneriya – Kaudulla area.

 The project has already identified over 350 elephants and two matriarchs have been radio collared with the participation of the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Extensive data on herd movements has been thereby collected by Dr. Fernando and his team.According to Chitral Jayatilake, Vice President – Nature Trails Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, their total investment on the project is around Rs. 20 million.

 He added that this project strives to assist people of Bandi Wewa to protect their crops from wild elephants that frequent the area – often causing heavy damage to paddy and other crops. Village fences will also be erected to keep villagers safe in their homesteads as elephants often come in search of harvested crops and cause damage to houses.

Versatile paddy field fences are easy to erect and the farmers are taught how to make these by CCR and Cinnamon Nature Trails teams.The fences stay up until the harvest is taken and farmers can then remove them and re-erect them for the next cultivation season. Vimukthi Weeratunga – Wildlife Biologist Cinnamon Nature Trails also spoke on the occasion of the launch of the Bandi Wewa fence.