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Support DWC to withstand political pressure – Dr. Pilapitiya
“Any development programme in the country conducted in an area with elephants needs to have an elephant management strategy,” reiterated the workshop’s moderator, former DWC Director-General Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, setting the right tone.
Pointing out categorically that neither development nor conservation can be carried out in isolation, he stressed that the DWC which had come with a draft Policy for the Conservation and Management of Elephants in 2006, was looking to update it to meet current needs.
“Development and conservation must essentially take place side-by-side. This is why the WNPS wanted to bring all stakeholders together,” said Dr. Pilapitiya, reminding the gathering in no uncertain terms that Sri Lanka has the highest HEC in the whole world.
He suggested that it may be good to expose the development agenda to science and rationale by addressing conservation issues. These should be internalised into the planning process, long before the environment impact assessment (EIA) is carried out. It is not optional to address conservation issues once a development programme has been decided on. It would be better to incorporate conservation while it is on the drawing board, rather than tinker with it later.
An urgent appeal went out from this former DWC Director-General for all stakeholders to strongly support the DWC in policy implementation and not point fingers at it, as there is immense political pressure on this conservation agency.
Dr. Pilapitiya was quick to point out that although the DWC’s mandate is to conserve elephants and all other animals, it was mostly expected to look after the interests of the people living in HEC-affected areas. This is not the mandate of the DWC, but the numerous other government agencies responsible for this do not appear to be willing to take it up.
It was CCR’s Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando who portrayed the pathetic at the same time grim images of the baby elephants and other elephants facing death at the hands of humans, as a result of snares, ‘hakka-patas’ (jaw bombs) etc.
Questioning whether it was the DWC which should be the main stakeholder in mitigating the HEC and whether the HEC can be prevented by attempting to restrict wild elephants to Protected Areas under the DWC, he was adamant that these are “misconceptions”. These incorrect beliefs caused enormous public and political pressure on the DWC.
How does the HEC arise, Dr. Fernando asked, pinpointing that it arises because of development done in areas with elephants, without taking appropriate measures to prevent and mitigate the HEC. Development is essential but in many instances the fallout of unplanned development such as encroachments is the HEC, and as such, it is the root cause of the HEC. It would mainly be agricultural development and encroachments not only for settlement but also for cultivation.
Due to the HEC, people suffer death, injury, economic losses and psychological impacts, while elephants suffer death, injury, loss of habitat — which is the loss of vegetation and resources within their home ranges, loss of range — which is their complete removal from their home ranges and also severe psychological impacts. “You find wild elephants hiding inside little forest patches all day long,” he says, adding that they are also compelled to face a barrage of frightening crackers and electric fences and the more cruel drives and translocations.
Isn’t there a problem, pleads Dr. Fernando, explaining that ‘under HEC mitigation’ only one side of the HEC is being addressed and that is the people’s issues. All attempts to mitigate the HEC are from the point of view of the people.
“We urgently need to look at the other side of the HEC and think about the welfare of the elephants too,” he added.
(Next: More on the workshop)