17
Nov 2008 - Kathmandu, Nepal: Massive international
investment in large-scale infrastructure
projects in southern Asia will increase
human-elephant conflict and cause more deaths
on both sides unless much greater care is
taken.
A new report released
today, funded by the World Bank as part
of the World Bank-WWF Alliance for Forest
Conservation & Sustainable Use, warns
international investors that a clear strategy
for keeping human-elephant conflict under
control makes economic as well as environmental
sense.
It is estimated that
the economic damage caused by human-elephant
conflict amounts to millions of dollars
in some countries and in many cases it is
those responsible for new land developments
that have to foot the bill.
“Billions of dollars
lined up for regional and national level
infrastructural investments such as the
Trans-Asian highway project and various
hydro-power and irrigation projects are
going to significantly increase human-elephant
conflict across Asia,” said Christy Williams,
Coordinator of WWF’s Asian elephant and
rhino conservation program.
“Banks and investors
need to show leadership when it comes to
human-elephant conflict by adding mitigation
options into their large infrastructure
plans in places where elephants are found
from the beginning.”
Human-animal conflict
is exacerbated whenever land where the animals
traditionally find food and living space
is taken away as human population and aspiration
increases. In this situation elephants frequently
raid crop fields and break down houses to
get at stored crops.
Chance encounters between
elephants and people, as well as efforts
of people to guard against elephants, result
in injury and death of humans. Harmful methods
employed by people in the process result
in death and injury of elephants, thereby
escalating the conflict.
The report – Review
of Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation Measures
Practised in South Asia – was compiled by
WWF-Nepal, the Centre for Conservation and
Research Sri Lanka (CCR) and the Nature
Conservation Foundation.
It analyses case by
case the methods local people are using
to keep elephants away from their houses
and finds that, in order to reduce the many
costs of human-elephant conflict, a strategy
that explains the most effective ways to
mitigate the conflict is urgently needed.
The report notes that
a comprehensive strategy could help investors
planning infrastructure projects in south
Asia to include human-elephant conflict
mitigation options from the beginning, which
would lead to both economic and conservation
gains.
"Most mitigation
measures currently being used are just akin
to bandaging the wounds and not treating
the root cause,” said Prithiviraj Fernando,
chairman of CCR-Sri Lanka. “Good land-use
planning that takes both people and elephant
needs into account is the only long-term
solution.”
