Clad in his khaki wildlife officer's uniform, Dewagiri Mudiyanselage Thilakaratne Bandara rides his motorbike the short distance from his home to the electric fence that serves as the main line of defence against the dozens of wild elephants living in the rapidly shrinking forest nearby.
The conflict between people and wild elephants in Sri Lanka is becoming one of the most serious issues for conservation and livelihoods on the South Asian island. As forest cover shrinks, herds are forced out of their natural habitat and into villages and farmland, leading to confrontations that kill and injure both people and elephants.
Electric fences like the one Bandara, a conservation officer, is responsible for are among the measures deployed to keep elephants away from villages and fields. But officials and local communities say the current solutions are not enough to address the root of the problem, as demand for land for farming and infrastructure development keeps growing.
Sri Lanka's human-elephant conflict has long been followed by international media, reflecting mounting pressure on protected areas and on communities living on the edge of the forest. Incidents of elephants attacking people and of people harming elephants are recorded regularly, underscoring the increasingly fierce overlap between the habitat of wild animals and human activity.
Balancing the protection of elephants — regarded as a cultural and natural symbol of Sri Lanka — with the lives of local residents is seen as a long-term challenge that will require comprehensive solutions on land-use planning, forest management and livelihood support for the communities directly affected.
