The human-elephant conflict: a case study

Abstract

In many parts of Sri Lanka, the human-elephant conflict poses a serious hazard to the public. The human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka is not a recent problem, the problem is part of the ancient. It has been going on since man began cultivating in elephant-infested areas. In this way, the research aims to analyze the impact of human-elephant conflict in Nintavur DSD. The study was carried out based on the primary and secondary data collection techniques and the primary data collection was done by Key Informal Interviews (KII), Questionnaires and field surveys systematically. Secondary data were collected from Divisional secretariat repots, research articles, agrarian reports, newspapers, internet and books. Based on these findings results have been concluded in this study. Various human and physical impacts have been identified from the public perception through the questionnaire survey. The study of the Impact of humanelephant conflict was carried out from 2017 to 2021 through the use of a questionnaire in 85 families selected randomly from Nintavur DSD. As a result, most of the present elephant range overlaps and stretches into agricultural lands, resulting in human conflict. According to the research, the elephant conflict had the greatest impact on agricultural land, settlement and practice during the two season of agricultural yield growth. The area had a lot of agricultural land and communities, and it was mostly used by humans and elephants. According to the findings of this study, the Maha and Yala seasons were identified as the periods of Human-Elephant conflict. Therefore, the public belief, human-elephant conflict occurs most frequently around Maha season (69%). And also the result, 71% of the respondents' associated with crop damage and the Public identified (86%) paddy crop damage was a higher impact in the study area. At the same time, the researchers suggested some mitigation practices to the conflict of human-elephant in the study area which is highly implementable practices for the public and authorized people according to the review of traditional and modern techniques.