Countrywide elephant census to be conducted next year

 

A new countrywide census of elephants is expected to be conducted next year as the last census in Sri Lanka was performed in 2011, Minister of Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Mahinda Amaraweera said earlier this week. 

The minister stated that a long-term program to reduce human-elephant conflict will be prepared and as one of the measures, a full census of elephants will be conducted. Many MPs drew the attention of the minister about the human-elephant conflict in various parts of the country including Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Ratnapura, and Ampara districts. 

Further, the minister said that the President has appointed a committee to find solutions to the human-elephant conflict, and based on the committee’s decisions, he hopes to prepare a program with long-term solutions. 

He also stated that a series of separate meetings will be organized in those districts to discuss the existing problems related to the protection of wildlife and forest resources, and in consultation with public representatives and government officials, steps will be taken to provide the necessary solutions without delay. 

The hardships faced by the farmers during the demarcation of the boundaries by the Department of Forest Resources Conservation were also taken up for discussion at the committee meeting.