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Yan Oya project likely to escalate human-elephant conflict, report warns
A severe escalation of the human-elephant conflict is likely to be caused by the resettlement of families under the Yan Oya Reservoir Project in the North Central Province, according to a recently published Supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA).
It also states that the number of families to be displaced by the initiative will be higher than initially estimated. A 2013 EIA report for the project said that 546 families would be affected. But the SEIA released on the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) website states that a total of 1,389 will either lose their houses or paddy lands or both.
This means the three resettlement sites identified in the EIA report are no longer sufficient. Meanwhile, many of the affected families had also turned down the main location — Kajuwatte — in the EIA report. The Irrigation Department and the Forest Department have now named four new resettlement sites and six new irrigable areas.
Therefore, the extent of land needed for resettlement has also become “significantly higher” — up from 407 hectares to 1500 hectares — than what was estimated in the EIA report. Worryingly, the SEIA observes that the four sites now selected for resettlement and six sites flagged as new irrigable areas “are located in areas with elephants”.
“All locations have herds and adult males that are resident year round,” it states.” Irrigable areas 4 and 5 are located in the middle of a sparsely populated area that currently does not have HEC (human-elephant conflict). All other areas currently experience minor to high levels of HEC.
“Escalation of human-elephant conflict is the next most significant issue to arise due to the implementation of the proposed activities that will negate the expected socio-economic benefits from the project,” it admits. “Proposed irrigation areas 4 and 5 are of particular concern in this aspect as they are located in a sparsely populated region that is heavily used by elephants.
“The implementation of irrigated agriculture in these two locations will have a major negative impact on elephant conservation through obstruction of movement pathways and habitat fragmentation, and cause HEC in an area where currently there is no conflict.” The current approach to human-elephant conflict mitigation in the areas consists of traditional measures such as guarding crops and chasing elephants by communities, conducting elephant drives, translocation of problem elephants and electric fences.
The human-wildlife conflict, especially due to the presence of wild elephants that cause damage to crops and property as well as death and injury to villagers, was identified “as another significant issue in the area during the field visit”. “Implementation of the project will result in further loss of habitat for elephants as well as other fauna that can lead to further aggravation of the human-wildlife conflict,” the SEIA continues. “Also it was observed during the field study that many of the natural forests have been encroached illegally by the villagers for farming, resulting in a loss of habitat for species that inhabit the area.”
The SEIA repeatedly refers to the presence of elephants in resettlement and irrigable areas. The most significant impact arising from the proposed activities is loss of forest habitats due to establishment of irrigable areas, construction of houses, access roads and infrastructure in the new resettlement sites.
“These habitats are important biodiversity repositories as is evident by the species that were recorded in these habitats,” the SEIA said. “This impact will be an irreversible affect as this will result in permanent conversion of these habitats into human modified habitats.”
“The terrestrial species that are utilising this area will lose their habitat and as such the terrestrial species assemblage in the newly developed areas will be replaced by common species that can inhabit home gardens, paddy fields and croplands,” it states. “Thus, it can be concluded that terrestrial species occupying natural habitats in the areas identified for resettlement and providing croplands for relocated persons will be adversely affected by the project due to habitat loss.”
As a mitigation measure, the SEIA has “highly recommended” putting up more community-based electric fencing to protect settlements and paddy fields. These are constructed and maintained by communities.