- HEC claims 380+ elephant, 130 human lives in 2024
- Mitigation plans proposed, not implemented
- Rs. 2.3 b spent on fences, no conflict drop
- Census held last August after 13 years
- 3,130 centres used for counting
The results of the 2024 elephant census are still pending, The Sunday Morning learns, amid growing concerns over the rising number of deaths due to the Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC).
However, authorities have pledged that the finalised census data will be released soon.
According to Minister of Environment Dr. Dammika Patabendi, the results of the conducted census have faced a slight delay in being released due to the need for verification of the data collected.
He explained that the census results were expected to be released soon, with the notable increase in HEC across Sri Lanka posing a cause for concern.
“It is difficult to finalise a count for the number of deaths as they are increasing. In 2024, there were over 380 elephant deaths and around 130 human deaths due to the HEC,” he said.
Dr. Patabendi noted that several mitigation efforts and solutions had been proposed to the Cabinet for approval, though any action towards this end was yet to be initiated. He emphasised that efforts such as electric fences and elephant corridors had been proposed, with internal discussions ongoing on whether solutions introduced by the previous Government were appropriate.
The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) is the agency mainly responsible for mitigating HEC in Sri Lanka. According to the department’s 2023 Financial Report, a staggering Rs. 2.3 billion had been spent between 2021 and 2023 for the construction and maintenance of 5,389.97 km of electric fence.
The report reads: “However, considering the number of elephant deaths, human deaths, and property damage that occurred in the last five years, despite the construction of electric fences, no reduction in human-elephant conflict was observed.”
The rise in HEC within the country is attributed to several reasons, such as the loss of elephant habitats due to large-scale development activities, land use in the areas where elephants congregate, people’s carelessness, elephants being attracted to crops near protected areas, and storage of paddy in houses, leading to property damage.
The islandwide elephant census was conducted by the DWC from 17-19 August 2024, following a 13-year hiatus. It focused on counting elephants that arrived at designated waterholes.
A total of 3,130 survey centres had been established around the country for the census.