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Clean Sri Lanka environmentally, socially and psychologically

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Philosophical approach should integrate sociological and psychological principles as an essential part of the campaign

by Prof. Athula Sumathipala

Clean Sri Lanka; what does it entail?

The mission of the “Clean Sri Lanka” project” is to reposition the nationwide efforts of environmental, social, and governance initiatives through introducing change, integration, and collaboration”.

As stated on its official website, “Clean Sri Lanka project aims to address a cleaner physical environment and a nationwide moral commitment to enhance ethical principles. Enhancement of the three pillars of sustainability; Economic, Social and Governance (EESG), have been identified as the framework to address the overarching objectives of this strategic plan with specific stakeholder goals, actions, time lines and outcomes”.

Human nature of resistance to change

Human nature is such that they are resistant to change. That is why so many people especially as organiations, when presented with a new initiative or idea—even a good one, with tons of benefits—will resist it.

We have already witnessed such resistance, in relation to the clean Sri Lanka project; threat to strikes, misinformation campaigns etc. No surprise. That resistance can also be easily exploited by the opportunists who wants to derail this programme for their own gains, no matter what the overall benefits the proposed programme brings.

The role of “proactive change management”

Proactive change management happens when leaders actively seek to manage the challenges and opportunities in a program. Every change projects comes with many unpredictable aspects. A proactive change manager will anticipate such potential challenges and plan for such problems well in advance. Thereby, they will be equipped to create contingency plans for unexpected challenges.

The role of the brain in facing changes

The brain has three main parts: the cerebrum, cerebellum and brainstem. Cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and is composed of right and left hemispheres. They interpret sights, sounds and touches. It also regulates emotions, reasoning and learning.

Cerebellum maintains the balance, posture, coordination and fine motor skills.

Brainstem, regulates many automatic body functions.

Part of the brain, the amygdala interprets change as a threat and releases the hormones leading to fear, fight, or flight. (See Figure 1)

In particular, the function of the brain’s prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for complex thinking, self-regulation, and future orientation, is only completed around the age of 24.

Because the brain’s prefrontal cortex is still developing, teenagers rely more on a part of the brain called the amygdala to make decisions and solve problems than adults. The amygdala is involved in emotions, impulses, aggression, and instinctual behaviour.

The limbic system, often referred to as the emotional centre of the brain, is responsible for processing emotions, forming memories, and regulating behaviour. It includes key structures like the amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus, each playing a vital role in emotional and social processing.

Therefore, biologically, we can conclude that the younger generation acts more emotionally than rationally compared to the adults. However, that does not mean all adults are acting rationally. Understanding this phenomenon is in no way justifying and normalising it.

Hence, adolescents and also adults should learn about emotional regulation and improve their skills to communicate their frustrations, anger, disagreements in an acceptable and civilised manner.

Such frustrations, anger, disagreements are potential manifestations of the Clean Sri Lanka programme which could be easily exploited by opportunists.

That’s why the science and the art of science should be carefully integrated into proactive change management using cognitive behavioural principles, conformity theory and principles, as they are key components in this, Clean Sri Lanka project for successful implementation.

Emotional regulation

Emotional regulation is the conscious or unconscious processes of monitoring, evaluating, modulating, and managing emotional experiences and expression of emotion in terms of intensity, form, and duration of feelings, emotion related physiological states and behaviours.

Being able to regulate emotions is important since our emotions are closely connected to how we think and behave. Our thoughts and feelings help us to decide how best to respond to a situation and what action we should take. Essentially, emotional regulation can influence positive and negative behaviour.

Learning skills to regulate emotions means that, instead of acting impulsively and doing something that may be regretted later, we are able to make thought-out choices. It also helps out to manage our conflicts of interest or competing interests.

This means that we can learn to manage relationships with others, solve problems, and have better control over our behaviours.

To do so, one need to develop emotional intelligence. Positive attitudes and emotional intelligence go hand in hand. That is why it’s so important.

Attitude is a way of thinking or feeling about something, it’s a psychological construct which governs behaviours. Negative or destructive attitudes are like flat tyers, without changing one cannot go anywhere.

Emotional intelligence (EI)

In a book written by Daniel Goleman in 1995, on emotional intelligence theory, he outlined five components of EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

Self-regulation; helps openness to change, motivation; helps a passion for work beyond monetary returns, energy and persistence, empathy; putting yourself in others’ shoes, social skills; ability to find common ground and rapport, and persuasiveness. People with EI makes good leaders as they can use their ability to recognise and understand their own emotions to make more informed and rational decisions. They can also use their ability to empathise with the emotions of their team members to take into account their perspectives and needs when making decisions

Emotional Intelligence can matter more than IQ; “intelligence quotient”. In his book, Goleman pointed out that emotional intelligence is as important as IQ for success, including in academic, professional, social, and interpersonal aspects of one’s life. It’s something which can be developed through coaching and mentoring.

Conformity principles

Conformity is a form of social influence that involves a change in the common belief or behaviour of a person or group of people to fit into how others are. This may have a good outcome or bad outcome.

Solomon Asch conducted several experiments in the 1950s to determine how people are affected by the thoughts and behaviours of other people. In one study, a group of participants was shown a series of printed line segments of different lengths: a, b, and c (Figure 1). Participants were then shown a fourth line segment: x. They were asked to identify which line segment from the first group (a, b, or c) most closely resembled the fourth line segment in length. (See Figure 2)

Each group of participants had only one true, outsider. The remaining members of the group were confederates of Ash. A confederate is a person who is aware of the experiment and works for the researcher. Confederates are used to manipulate social situations as part of the research design, and the true, outside participants believe that confederates are, like them, uninformed participants in the experiment. In Asch’s study, the confederates identified a line segment that was shorter than the target line a, the wrong answer. The outside participant then had to identify aloud the line segment that best matched the target line segment.

Asch (1955) found that 76% of participants conformed to group pressure at least once by indicating the incorrect line. Conformity is the change in a person’s behavior to go along with the group, even if he does not agree with the group.

Research shows that the size of the majority, the presence of another dissenter, and the public or relatively private nature of responses are key influences on conformity.

The size of the majority: The greater the number of people in the majority, the more likely an individual will conform. In Asch’s study, conformity increased with the number of people in the majority, up to seven individuals. At numbers beyond seven, conformity leveled off and decreased slightly. The presence of another dissenter: If there is at least one dissenter, conformity rates drop to near zero (Asch, 1955).

The correct answer to the line segment question was obvious, and it was an easy task. But the outsiders who participated in the study gave wrong answers. Researchers (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955) have categorized the motivation to conform into two types: normative social influence and informational social influence

In normative social influence, people conform to the group norm to fit in, feel good, and be accepted by the group. However, with informational social influence, people conform because they believe the group is competent and has the correct information, particularly when the task or situation is ambiguous.

So, what is happening in current society. The great majority of good people conform to the bad minority allowing the wrong thing to happen. Therefore, the very same conformity principles can be used by empowering the majority of good people not to conform to the bad or wrong minority.

To achieve that people should get out of the “learned helplessness” mode, which was described by Seligman in 1976. Learned helplessness is what social science researchers call it when a person is unable to find resolutions to difficult situations, even when a solution is accessible. People that struggle with learned helplessness tend to complain a lot, feeling overwhelmed and incapable of making any positive difference in their circumstances. The feel that they are powerless to change others who have conformed to the “norm”. They give up and just get one.

There is also the bystander effect, or bystander apathy. Social psychological theory states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim or initiate an action in the presence of other people. They simply assume that the other person will do it. If everybody expects the other person will do ultimately no one will do it.

Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Social psychologists explain human behavior as a result of the relationship between mental states and social situations, studying the social conditions under which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors occur, and how these variables influence social interactions.

The best way to describe what to do in the context of all the above phenomena are operating, is using Cognitive behavioural theory and interventions based on that. Cognitive-Behavioral Theory states that human thinking determines human behaviour and feeling. Therefore, by changing one you can change the other.

The triad; behaviors, thoughts and feelings

The basis of cognitive behavioral theory is that a person’s thoughts, ideas, and beliefs underpin their emotional reactions and behaviors. (See Figure 2)

As described in the above diagram we have assumptions and core beliefs about us, the others, the future, the country, the world and so on. We call it a schemata. We process information using these schemata. Some of these can be positive and useful (functional) and some are negative and counterproductive.

The easiest way to understand this is to learn about Kisa Gothami’s story. When Kisa Gothami’s newborn son died, she did not realize so and she ran to Lord Buddha asking him to cure her son. Lord Buddha at once knew that the baby was dead but wanted Kisa Gothami to learn about death herself. Lord Buddha asked her to find a handful of mustard seeds from a household where no one has died. She went knocking on all the doors in the village but could not find a single house without a death in the family. Soon she realized the lesson Lord Buddha was trying to teach her: that no family is spared the occurrence of death. Lord Buddha used a bahaviour to teach Kisa Gothami to change the way she thinks about death. We call it cognitive restructuring.

Compatibilities between cognitive approaches to therapy, such as CBT, and Buddhism have been acknowledged by its originators Aron Beck (2005) and Kwee & Ellis (1998).

Our nation needs mass scale cognitive behavioural interventions to change the way they think about many things; us, others, future, country, what is rights and wrongs, one’s responsibilities and duties. We need to change our learned helplessness mentality created through the so-called bankrupt society that has no future.

Without addressing these assumptions, core beliefs, and thinking errors; the schemata, by using scientific principle and interventions, to change the crucial behaviors and thinking neither the President nor 159 MPs alone will be able to do much for the nation who expect a paradigm shift in the development of a nation. Their duty was not finished by voting a new President and a Government into power with the 2/3rd majority.

Each citizen who is seriously thinking of a prosperous nation need to change first to change the country and it;s wrong doings. If you want the Government to stop bribery and corruption you need to first stop offering bribes. Reflect on your self first and also inculcate such attitudes in the younger generations with optimism.

Role of media in behavioural change

The media has an undisputed role in influencing behavioral change by shaping public opinion, disseminating information, and creating awareness.

Raising awareness through campaigns can promote positive behaviors, changing stereotypes, bringing progressive narratives. modeling behaviors in films or on social media, can inspire individuals to adopt similar behaviors.

Creating social pressure through peer Influence challenging conformity, learned helplessness, conducting campaigns on social media encouraging widespread behavioral change, educating and empowering, supporting and influencing public policy and reinforcing positive behaviors are a few.

However, be mindful that media is a double-edged sword, it can inspire positive change when used responsibly but can also perpetuate negative behaviors if misused. Its influence on behavior depends largely on the accuracy, ethics, and creativity of the content it disseminates.

Be mindful, for the first time in history, the essential and fundamental conditions; objective and subjective, have come together offering a golden opportunity for a genuine change. The political leadership should not leave any stone unturned to use the scientific advances of science relevant to

three fundamental components: biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. These elements are not isolated; they interact dynamically to shape the way we perceive the world and respond to it. They should understand how these foundational aspects of behavior provide a framework for understanding the complex nature of human actions and how to change them.

The author of this article is an internationally renowned academic with a strong track record in research especially carried out in Sri Lanka using cognitive behavioural principles. Some of his interventions are considered front line in post disaster situations.

He is an Emeritus Professor at Kings College London and Keele University. He is also the Director, Institute for Research and Development in Health and Social care and the Chairman of the National Institute of Fundamental Studies.

He had been an invited plenary speaker at the 11th International Congress on Behavioural Medicine, Washington DC, USA (August 2010), 19th World Psychiatric Association (WPA), World Congress of Psychiatry, Portugal, Lisbon (August, 2019). Melbourne, Australia (February, 2018). 16th Congress of the International Federation of Psychiatric Epidemiology Melbourne, Australia (Oct, 2017), Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZAP) Napier, New Zealand (Oct 2007), to name a few related to cognitive behavioral theory/therapy.



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Features

The Rohingya question and states’ international obligations

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A boat load of Rohingyas rescued off MullaitIvu

The presence of Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka has prompted sections in the South of the country to raise some concerns in connection with it but The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka’s (THRCSL) recent report on the issue, if received and read in a spirit of reconciliation and humanity, should put their minds at ease.

To be sure, there is considerable substance in the objections and worries of the relevant Southern quarters but the majority of the refugees in question need to be seen as victims of complex political circumstances in their countries of origin over which they do not have any control.

Those Rohingyas who are now literally adrift in the seas of South Asia and beyond, are strictly speaking stateless. Most of them are escaping endemic political turmoil and runaway lawlessness in the Rakhine state of Mynamar and the spillover of such tensions into the Myanmar-Bangladesh border and beyond.

There has been playing out in the Rakhine region over the decades a Rohingya armed struggle for autonomy but the majority of the Rohingyas are not in any way supportive of this armed struggle which is an expression of the Rohingyas’ awareness of their separate identity as a community, although they possess a wider Muslim identity as well.

But there has been an influx of Rohingya refugees to several neighbouring countries from this conflict, including very significantly Bangladesh, and this has been triggering concerns among the wider publics in those states which are compelled to manage the Rohingya refugee presence amid economic pressures of their own.

The problems arising from the Rohingya refugee presence have been compounded by the rise of Islamic militancy in South Asia and the tendency among some of these militant groups to exploit this presence for the propagation of their causes.

However, this does not take away from the fact that the majority of Rohingyas are helpless victims of circumstance. They are caught up in the metaphorical ‘exchange of fire’ between mutually suspicious states that are compelled to contend with issues growing out of the rise of Islamic militancy. But for the majority of Rohingyas such endemic conflicts among states translate into displacement, statelessness and growing powerlessness.

For an enlightened understanding of what states need to do in connection with the refugee crisis and connected questions it would be necessary to read the THRCSL report above mentioned. States that are members of the UN family are obliged to ratify and implement a number of conventions related to refugees and the THRCSL mentions some of these. They are: The 1951 Convention on Refugees; 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons; 1961 Convention on the Reduction of the Stateless and the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons within Sri Lanka.

If Sri Lanka and other countries facing a refugee influx have not adopted these laws they would need to do so without further delay if they are opting to remain within the UN fold. In this connection, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be seen to be of fundamental importance. The Declaration is the fountainhead, so to speak, of international humanitarian law and UN members states have no choice but to adhere to it.

Contentious issues are likely to grow out of the implementation part of the mentioned conventions but it is best that signatory states take up these matters with the relevant key agencies of the UN rather than grouch over matters that surface from their inalienable obligations towards the stateless and homeless.

It was encouraging to note a Southern group in Sri Lanka mentioning that the Lankan government should draw the attention of the UNHRC to the fact that the state is not a signatory to some of the mentioned refugee conventions. This is the way to go. A dialogue process with the UNHRC, which does not happen to be very popular in Sri Lanka, on such issues would perhaps throw up fresh insights on Sri Lanka’s obligations on refugee issues that may then convince the state to sign and ratify the conventions concerned.

There needs to be a flourishing of such positive approaches to meeting Sri Lanka’s obligations as a UN member state. The present most unhappy existence of being a UN member state and not implementing attendant obligations needs to end if Sri Lanka is not to be accused of ‘double speak’ and ‘double think’.

Meanwhile, identity politics and connected problems are bound to remain in South Asia and bedevil all efforts by states of the region to see eye-to-eye on issues such as the stateless. The yawning ‘democratic deficit’ in South Asia continues to be a formidable challenge.

But all efforts should be made to reduce this deficit through collaborative efforts among the concerned states. This is so because increasing democratization of states remains the most effective means of making identity politics irrelevant and the latter is a primary cause for the break-up of states, which process throws-up troubling consequences, such as statelessness and refugees.

Fresh initiatives need to be undertaken by the ‘South Asian Eight’ to end the continuing ‘Cold War’-type situation between India and Pakistan, since they hold the key to re-activating SAARC and making it workable once again. It ought to be plain to see that it is only the SAARC spirit that could help in ushering a degree of solidarity in South Asia which could go some distance in resolving issues growing out of nation-breaking.

Once again, South-South cooperation should be seen as a compelling necessity. If vital sections of the South come to this realization and recognize the need for such intra-regional cooperation, the coming back to power of Donald Trump could be considered as having yielded some good, though in a highly negative way. Because Trump has made it all too plain that he would not be considering it obligatory on the part of the US to help ease the lot of the South any more.

The South would have no choice but to fall back on strategies of self-reliance. No doubt, this situation would accrue to the benefit of the world’s powerless. Self-reliance is the best option and the only key to unravelling external shackles that bind the South to the North.

Meanwhile, those sections of Southern Sri Lanka that are tending to cheer Trump on need to put the brakes on any such idle distractions. The message that Trump has for the world is one of division and strife. By rolling back almost all the progressive ventures that have come out of Washington over the years, Trump is plunging the world into further ‘disorder’. The international community needs to brace for stepped-up nation-breaking.

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Effective and non-effective methods for mitigating human-elephant conflict

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Villagers living in fear of wild elephants. (File photo)

by Tharindu Muthukumarana
tharinduele@gmail.com

(Author of the award-winning book “The Life of Last Proboscideans: Elephants”)

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”.

-Albert Einstein

When we examine the records of funds spent in the years beforehand to mitigate human-elephant conflict (HEC), it is evident that the expenditure has been growing. For example, in 2010, USD $505,001 was spent, but in 2018, USD $1,068,021 was spent. So, this shows that expenditure had been over double within a period of less than one decade. But in the same way, the HEC had always been rising throughout the years. So, what went wrong? The answer is that the funds were expended mostly on ineffective mitigating strategies rather than effective mitigating approaches. Henceforth, let’s look at a glimpse of what are the non-effective methods and effective methods.

Non-effective methods Translocation

Elephant translocation involves capturing elephants from one place and moving them to a safer environment. Sri Lanka had done this for many decades. One of the earliest translocations occurred in 1979, when 10 elephants were relocated from Deduru Oya to Wilpattu National Park (NP). So, it was a new experience for the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), and they even had to get a foreign veterinary surgeon named Dr. Ian Hoffmeyr from Etosha NP in Namibia to sedate the elephants.

Unfortunately, radio tracking collars were not put on those elephants to monitor updates of those elephants. So, ultimately what happened was that those translocated elephants’ status never got documented. However, in recent translocations, the GPS tracking collars were fixed on them and have given accurate updates on their whereabouts. According to those data, 3 conclusions are probable: (i) The translocated elephant got killed in the new home. (ii) Left the new home and returned to the initial home. (iii) created conflict with neighbouring villagers in the new home.

As for example, in 2007, a tusker named Ravana that was crop raiding in Anuradhapura got translocated to Udawalawe NP. He then got into conflict with neighbouring villages of Handapanagala, Aluthwewa, and Buttala. Due to this, Ravana got shot in the leg, and as a result, Ravana got re-translocated to Lunugamvehera NP. Again, Ravana raided crops on leased land in the park, and a few months later, Ravana got shot in the jaw and had an agonising death after suffering for a few days.

Another tragic event happened when a young bull elephant named Homey that frequently foraged at a garbage dump in Hambantota got translocated to Yala NP Block II, which took a journey of 75 km. Within a few days, Homey was back at the garbage dump. Astonishingly, when data from the collar was downloaded, it was shown that the route Homey took to return contrasted with the route Homey was taken. For the second time, Homey was translocated to Udawalawe NP, but as time passed by, he created conflict with neighbouring villages. Subsequently, Homey left the park and again returned to the garbage dump. For the third time, Homey got translocated to Maduruoya NP, almost 300 km away from Hambantota. At times, Homey tried to come back to the garbage dump but was unsuccessful due to compact human settlements. So, he continued to stay at Maduruoya but started to create conflict with neighbouring villages. This resulted in him getting shot frequently. One day he got shot in the head and died in a paddy field.

Elephant Drives

Elephant drives involve chasing elephants from one area to another area, and for this, firecrackers or thunder flashes would be used. This procedure can take days to get completed. These drives had happened as early as the 1970s, and the latest to be 2024. From a scientific perspective, the decades of elephant drives that have been done are one of the key reasons for Sri Lanka having the highest level of HEC in the world. Records have clearly shown that after an elephant drive, some or all driven elephants returned. Also, in every location where elephant drives took place, HEC still persists. In many cases, the problem-causing males don’t get driven because those males usually avoid it. Instead, non-problem-causing female elephants get driven. In such incidents, after those driven elephants got enclosed in a restricted home range, those elephants did face starvation and malnourishment that eventually made them die. For this, there are examples coming from Lunugamvehera NP and Yala NP.

Removing the problem elephants

Removing problem elephants could be done in two ways: one is domestication and the other is culling. Such acts can enhance the risk for elephants’ extinction. Problem elephants are usually male elephants, and elephants that raid crops are risk takers. Emerging research shows that risk-taking behaviour contributes highly to their reproductive success. So, if such elephants are removed from the gene pool, it weakens the elephant population.

In modern days, there is a popular misconception that the elephant population has risen, and it is immoderate. In fact, scientifically, there is no way to explain whether the elephant population has risen or plummeted. Because the first legitimate elephant census was done in 2011. Before 2011, elephant population numbers were given as guesses or estimations. After 2011, last year an elephant census was done, but still the results haven’t been published. There are many who think that the elephant population has increased because, around the country, there are places where locals are newly experiencing HEC. This happened because of habitat loss and the blocking of elephant corridors that occurred due to poor development planning done by various governments. So, as a result of it, new places experience HEC.

Still, the Sri Lankan elephant is classified as “Endangered” by the IUCN Red List due to its high risk of extinction and declining population. Also, we must remember that though culling or capturing of elephants is not done, yet annually, in the last few years, over 350 elephants have died due to HEC. This is only the documented data, and the undocumented figure can give a higher value. A mother elephant usually gives birth to a single calf with a two-year gestation period. They have 4-5 years of interval until the next calf is born. Females become less fertile after 40 years. In Sri Lanka only 6,000 elephants are left. So, such a high mortality rate due to HEC is critical.

Biofencing and Geological Barriers

A victim of the human-elephant conflict

Palmyra Palm fencing: This involves planting palmyra trees (Borassus) as a fence to restrict elephants’ movements. Though it has some positive effects, practically there are problems to call it a solution. This project is expected to take a longer time to achieve its anticipated outcomes and could take even a decade. Even so, the germination rate is lower, and by any chance, if at least one tree fails to grow, the fence becomes ineffective.

Thorny plant fencing: Plants such as agave, cacti, and bougainvillaea had been used to deter elephants, but those had been unsuccessful because of elephants’ thick skin. Besides, elephants even feed on thorny plants such as Acacia eburnean that have sharp thorns that can grow up to 1 inch.

Beehive fencing: The fence is erected at chest height with beehives fixed to it and spaced every ten meters. This method had high success in deterring crop-raiding elephants in Africa. In addition, the produce from hives provided economic benefits to farmers. This project was introduced by Save the Elephants Organisation (SEO). From 2014-2019 SEO collaborated with the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS) to do a pilot project in Wasgamuwa. Unfortunately, results showed it was ineffective due to the reason that African honey bees (Apes mellifera scutellata) and Asian honey bees (Apes cerana indica) behaviour contrasts. Asian bees cannot scare away elephants, and those bees are not active at nighttime.

Trenches: Soil erosion had made trenches ineffective, and also the construction and maintenance cost is very expensive. According to past experiences, it had impeded wildlife movement, and a lot of other smaller animals had died after falling to them. Also, there is a potential of hydrological impacts that would have a negative effect on villages.

Effective methods

Before touching this topic, it is important to mention that the strategies put forward here are science-based projects, and these projects had been put into experiment as pilot projects with successful results. The villagers state that after the implementation of the project, HEC had been solved or mitigated. These projects had been done by the Centre for Conservation and Research and SLWCS.

According to research, it has been proved that the electric fence is the most effective to deter elephants. But it depends where the electric fence is erected. If it is erected in the boundary of a protected area, it can be ineffective, but instead, if it is erected at the border between elephant habitat and human-use areas, it can be successful. This is what is called community-based electric fencing and proved to be successful in mitigating HEC.

Another method is the paddy-field electric fences. These fences are installed seasonally. During cultivation the fences are installed, and during harvest the fence is removed and stored in their houses until the following crop season. So, during the fallow periods, elephants would forage the leftover harvest and other vegetation. By 2020, approximately 50 village electric fences and 25 paddy-field electric fences were active in the Kurunegala, Hambantota, Trincomalee, and Anuradhapura districts for up to 12 years. Feedback from the villagers is positive.

It needs to be mentioned that in 2020 a National Action Plan for the Mitigation of HEC was made by a committee of wildlife experts. Strategies included in the National Action Plan were chosen based on their demonstrated effectiveness, capacity to be executed on a suitable geographic and temporal scale, and cost-effectiveness. Stakeholder discussions were performed with the public and relevant agencies, and their feedback was integrated into the Action Plan as needed. So, if that action plan gets implemented, HEC could be mitigated!

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Congratulations…and celebrations

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Twenty-one years in the news, in Toronto, Canada, and that certainly calls for big time celebrations!

Dirk Tissera, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Sri Lanka Anchorman, is working on making it a big scene.

He says the 21st Anniversary celebrations will take the form of a gala dinner dance, scheduled for Friday, 30th May, 2025, in Toronto, Canada, adding that there would be plenty of surprises!

In fact, The Sri Lankan Anchorman’s 20th Anniversary, ‘A Night To Remember,’ held on 31 May, 2024, at the J&J Convention Centre, in Toronto, turned out to a resounding success.

Dirk mentioned that last year’s event was sold out long before the scheduled date.

“We generally work on our anniversary celebrations months in advance to ensure that the audience got their monies worth, and there was plenty of variety in the music we provided last year, led by veteran singer, the legendary Fahmy Nazick, along with the band Déjà Vu, guest singer Cherry Deluna, and DJ Chami.

What is special about The Sri Lanka Anchorman, a tabloid newspaper, is its wide and varied content which Sri Lankan-Canadians eagerly look forward to reading.

In fact, Dirk Tissera received a top Toronto press award from the National Ethnic Press & Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) for excellence in editorial content and visual presentation.

An old boy of St. Mary’s College, Dehiwela, he had his early grooming, in journalism, right here, in Colombo, and then moved to Canada, and is now based in Toronto.

Dirk Tissera is efficiently supported by his wife Michelle in the publication of The Sri Lanka Anchorman.

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