Solar-powered solutions for human-elephant conflict - Get updated on what's happening in tourism!

Over 70% of the elephant population in Sri Lanka lives outside protected areas and in 44% of the country, elephants and humans share the land. However, they do not always live harmoniously side by side and this poses a major conservation and socio-economic issue that the TUI Wildlife Sri Lanka project addresses.

Elephants that share habitat with people can cause damage to crops and the local infrastructure. Separating people and elephants at a landscape scale by confining elephants to protected areas has been pursued for decades but without success. In Sri Lanka the scale of the challenge and practical issues make it difficult to address the conflict between elephants and people using nature-based solutions, such as bio fences, chillies and bees or alternative crops. Relocation of elephants is also an impractical solution, as the intelligent animals have proven that they can easily navigate their way back to their original living spaces. Barriers such as ditches, barbed wire fences and walls have also been tried, but not worked.

The most practical barrier has proven to be electric fencing – installed in a way that does not disrupt the elephant’s movement patterns and lets them continue to use the natural areas in shared habitat so that people and elephants can continue to co-exist. The TUI Care Foundation therefore initiated TUI Wildlife Sri Lanka in partnership with the Centre for Conservation and Research (CCR) and Cinnamon Nature Trails, to implement two types of solar-powered fences in the village of Bendiwewa in order to protect both humans and elephants whilst also respecting the ecological boundary between them.

TUI Care Foundation Board of Trustees member Dagmar Wöhrl explains: “Sri Lanka boasts an immense natural beauty and impressive Flora and Fauna that I have learned to love in the many years of staying in the country. I am very sensitised to the plight of elephants in Sri Lanka – they are frequently injured and sometimes even killed when they come into conflict with humans. The TUI Wildlife Sri Lanka programme provides a sustainable solution that protects both the people as well as the elephants that inhabit the vast areas around human settlements.“

The first permanent village fences have already been installed around the boundary of settlements to protect dwellings and home-gardens. Another solution offered by the programme is seasonal paddy-field fences, built by farmers to protect crops during cultivation. These fences are placed on the boundary of the fields, removed at harvest and stored until the next growing season, allowing elephants to roam freely when the fields are not cultivated. For the protection offered by the fences to be long-lasting, the villagers are learning how to regularly maintain it. The programme is also collecting and aggregating data about community-based solar fences and their impact on elephants and the community through a yearly report, with the hope of making it a national standard for other areas afflicted by this issue.

Under TUI Wildlife Sri Lanka, a sustainable tourism experience for domestic and international tourists is also being developed in order to support the livelihoods of the local population.

The project is part of TUI Care Foundation’s TUI Wildlife Programme which aims to protect endangered wildlife and habitats in tourism destinations.

Image Credit: © TUI Group