Integrating Conservation with Management in

Natarajan Ishwaran Programme Specialist in Natural Heritage, World Heritage Centre, UNESCO, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris, France

ABSTRACT Gray Haynes (1991) has correctly noted that "it is no longer possible to describe the optimal or ideal prefemed habitats of witd , because, virtually all surviving populations inhabit special pmtected Innds such as national parlcs which are restricted ecosystems". In Sri Lanlea, a large part of what was once the elephant's home range inthe dry and intermediate zones has been converted to agriculture. Even where the cores of their home ranges overlap with the boundaries of Sri Lanl

Ecology and population structure of the Asian which seek land for agriculture. Governments have elephant in Sri Lanka-anoverview sought to use the pride and the sense of security which people associate with owning a plot of arable land to Parker & Graham, in their two-part analysis (1989a,b) launch massive river valley development projects where of the downward trends in distribu- agricultural land is parcelled out to settlers. More tion and numbers note that: "Humans and elephants are often, settlers in such schemes are not necessarily complete competitors. Biological theory maintains that indigenous to the area wheie the project is executed' such species cannot co-exist on the same range and Many of the settlers are drawn from rural, suburban that increase in one will exclude the other. Measure- and urban populations sympathetic to ruling powers ments of human increase, elephant decline and and are attracted to new settlements through the offer production are in keeping with this hypothesis". of economic and other incentives. The preferential settlement of river valleys and similarly high-yielding Competition between humans and elephants is particu- habitas for crop production has been a policy that has larly intense in agrarian societies. In Asia, most el- denied the elephant its most favoured habitats. That ephant range countries have large rural populations policy has been in vogue among Asian rulers, both

Cajah 20 (2ail) 28

native and colonial, for millennia. The following quote movement, resting, shade, breeding and other pur- from Sukumar (1989) clearly illustrates the antiquityof poses. Chena lands which have been invaded by 'illuk' this policy and its attendant practices. "Kautilya's (Imperata cylindrica) are grazed upon soon after a Arthasastra (c 300BC to 300 AD), a manual of state- burn, when fresh growth of grass is abundant. Once craft, advises that elephants were to be eliminated illuk matures, particularly after it has past the flower- from river valleys under settlement but preserved in ing stage, it does not constitute a significant feed for the outer hill " the elephant. Where there is a range of habitats and a river flow regime which provides access to varying One of the latest sagas in river valley development extents of grasslands throughout the year, browse con- schemes displacing elephants from preferred parts of stitutes only a small portion of the diet (Ishwaran, their home ranges occurred in Sri Lanka, under the 1984). Most size-classes of browse are used in pro- Accelerated Mahaweli Development Programme portion to their availability (Ishwaran, 1984); earlier (AMDP), which changed the water-flow of the findings showing preferences for certain size classes Mahaweli River, the longest of Sri Lanka's rivers, and of woody plants (Ishwaran, 1983) are inconclusive has perhaps already led to long-term changes in the since preference ecology of the villus. indices were calculated as poinr estimates, and did not include estimates of variation due to sampling biases. The Mahaweli villus, which were abundant on both sides of that river's course northeastward from Mannampitiya, were a unique grassland habitat. prior Results of studies on relationships between elephant to the late 20th century renaissance of irrigated agri- densities, and variables related to grassland structure culture in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, the Mahaweli and composition, and densities of other herbivores river, which drains catchements and river-basins in the such as and domestic cattle, in mixed, wet, intermediate and dry zones before draining into upland grasslands in the AMDP area (Ishwaran, 1984) Indian Ocean near Trincomaee. flooded the villus at have important implications for designing management least twice a year, during the southwest as well as the policies for the elephant. In the dry season elephant northeast monsoons. The Mahaweli villus thus ensured densities are positively influenced by availability of a supply of palatable stages of grass for the elephant tall grasses. As McKay (1973) pointed out, elephant and other grazing herbivores throughout much of the grazing in the dry season is negatively impacted by year. the presence of other herbivores which graze grasses down to ground level, resulting in elephants having to The quality and quantity of grass and grazing lands in "scarify" grasses,with their front legs before collecting the Mahaweli villus would have been considerably them witb their trunks for injestion. In the event higher than that even in areas further upstream along elephants are forced to spend increasing amounts of the river, in and around the what is currently time in scarfying grasses before collecting and feeding Wasgomuwa National Park, and in the flood plains of upon them, there is likely to be a point where the othernearby rivers such as Maduru Oya, During 1981- decreasing net energy gain obtained from a mouthful 1982 when the implementation of AMDP was begin- of grass may force the elephant toseek out alternative ning to be 'accelerated', one measure of food-quality, diets, such as plantation crops and woody plants, even i.e. percentage crude protein of faecal samples of if those alternatives would not be eaten or be avoided elephants, was significantly higher in the villus and under optimal range conditions. Elephant feeding pref- surrounding forests than in the Wasgomuwa National erences and behaviour are known to change over time Park and habitats along the Maduru Oya (Ishwaran, to due to changes in its habitat. 1984) In the case of el- ephants in the Rjaji National Park of India, Vinod Grasslands are the preferred feeding habitat of el- Rishi, as quoted in Sarka et al. (1995), had observed ephants; they do however, need other habitats for that "as far back as 1969, the changes in the eating Gajah 20 (2001) habits of elephants were recognised as spelling im- economic justif,rcation for their construction. Fluctuat- pending disaster. But this recognition went unheeded. ing water levels in such reservoirs mimic floodplains A famous publication of 1962, Csmeru in Tigerland, of rivers in exposing varying extent of grasslands says that elephants abhor rohini, Mallotus philippensis throughout the year. However, allowing a large num- as food. and today we see that elephants in Rajaji are ber of domestic livestock 1o graze inside parks such causing destructionby uprooting this plant..... the source as the could in the long run of this problem (is located) in the large scale extrac- lead to changes in the structure and composition of tion of bamboo from the resion in 1969" grasslands along the shores of the waters of the Senanayake Samudra that could be detrimental to the Even during the wet season, elephant densities could use of those grasslands by elephants (McKay, 1973; be negatively correlated with densities of buffalo and Ishwaran, 1979). Furthennore, the extents of grassland livestock since heavy grazing pressure from the latter that are exposed by receding waters in reservoirs could increase patchiness in available grass cover, located within protected areas like the Gal Oya Na- causing elephants to spend a decreasing amount of tional Park is a function of the withdrawal of water for time in any given grassland-site. The extent to which agricultural and power generation purposes. Consider- densities of buffaloes should be controlled has been a ations for managing the extents of grasslands for controversial issue in the management of protected elephants have never entered the equation that deter- areas such as the Yala (= Ruhuna) National Park of Sri mines schedules of water withdrawals from reservoirs Lanka. In Yala where densities of other grazing herbi- located inside national parks. vores, like spotted deer and sambur are quite high, merely reducing buffalo densities may not increase In the Gal Oya National Park, the northeast monsoonal grazing opportunities for the elephant. In the 1980s rains during 1975-1976 was exceptionally heavy. when the implementation of the AMDP was beginning Throughout 1975, due to regular rainfall conditions, to gather momentum, hunting of deer, sambur, and elephants were observed to graze in the grasslands even wild buffaloes, though illegal, was widespread along the shores of the Senanayake Samudra even and perhaps contributed to keeping the numbers of during the normally dry months of July and August these ruminant populations under check. Furtherrnore (Iswaran, 1981). Earlier studies at the same site the availability of tall-grass-grasslands more favorable (McKay, 1973) had indicated that elephants left the to intensive feeding by elephants, such as those found park during the dry season, but grazed in the grass- in the Mahaweli villus, made wildlands in the AMDP lands along the shores ofthe reservoir only during the area far better elephant-habitats than areas inside many rainy season. During the 1975-1976 rainy season, of Sri Lanka's national parks. The protection afforded there was a period of about 15 days in January 1976 to all wildlife in parks and sanctuaries could set in when the reservoir had filled to such an extent that motion ecological and demographic changes that could the water level extended up to the border and gradually lead to increases in grazing herbivore densi- there was hardly any grassland exposed for elephants ties which over a period of time could negatively to feed upon. Elephants were known to move outside impact availability of grazing opportunities for the the park during those high rainfall months when the elephant. reservoir had filled up. (Iswaran, 1979).

The establishment of national parks around artificial It is probable that the use of grasslands by elephans, reservoirs such as Gal Oya, Maduru Oya, Ulhitiya in reservoir-centred national parks such as Gal Oya, Oya, Uda Walawe etc., is probably one of the best apart from being determined by factors such as grass- options available for conserving elephants in a country land composition, densities of water buffalo and do- like Sri Lanka, where irrigation, hydro-power and mestic cattle etc., would also depend on other factors, flood control benefits due to those reservoirs provide i.e. the distance of grazing locations from the forest

Gajah 20 (2nt) 30

border; and proximity of grazing locations to drinking Table 1 Age Class data for Trikkonamadu and sites. Grasslands in a natural floodplain, like the Wasgomuwa National Park Areas based on elephants Mahaweli villus. provide grazing locations which are observed on separate days during the specified time in close proximity to both forest cover and drinking periods (7o estimated in parentheses) sites. In an artificial reservoir like that in Gal Oya or Trikkonamadu area: , grazing locations along [98] (August-November) and 1982(April-June)] the shores of the reservoir could become unattractive to the elephant, particularly during the height of the SA Total dry season, when the distance between the forest a. 2(6.1) t3(39.4) 10(30.3) 8(24.2) JJ border and the high-water mark increases. Human de- b. r4(15.4) 41(45.1) 23(2s.3) 13(14.3\ 91 mands for water from these reservoirs are also highest c. 3(6.7) 27(s3.3) e(20.0) 6(13.3) 45 during the dry season. d. 3(2.8) 2l(58.3) e(25.0) 3(8.3) 36 e. s(8.5) 21(3s.6) 20(33.9) 13(22.01 59 Considerations for managing grasslands along the f. l0(10.8) 42(4s.2) 24(2s.8) l7(18.3) 93 reservoir to favour elephants is likely to run contrary c. 4(e.s) 13(3 1.0) l s(35.7) 10(23.8) 42 to the requirements of human needs. In the wet season h. r0(14.s) 22(3r.9) 20(29.0) 17(24.6) 69 when more and more grasslands are inundated, it will z'yg Vo 9.3 42.5 281 be useful to release water from the reservoir in order 18.6 to keep a minimum extent of grasslands "open" for grazing although the demand for water for agricultural Wasgomuwa area: (1981 May-November) activities is likely to be minimal. In the dry season, the situation reverses itself; more and more grasslands a. 4(10.0) 17 (42.s) 1t(27 .s) 8(20.0) 40 are opened up by water withdrawal for inigatiobn but b. 4(12.5) l6(s0.0) 6(18.6) 6(18.8) 32 the grasslands which are exposed, both from a point c. 3(7,3) 2r(s1.2) l5(36.6) 2(4.9) 4l of view of access and quality may notprovide optimal d. 7(14.2) l9(38.8) n(34.7) 6(12.3) 49 grazing conditions for the elephant. The ecology of e. 7(10.0) 26(37.1) 23(32.e) 14(20.0) 70 these grasslands could be further impacted if domestic f. 7(8.0) 30(34.r) 33(37.5) l8(20.5) 88 cattle, sometimes brought into the park by herders E. 8(e.2) 28(32.2) 3l(35.6) 20(23.0) 81 from distant provinces and municipalities, and large h. 3(8.8) 14(41.2) t2(3s.3) s(14.t) 34 numbers of water buffalo continue to graze these i. 2l (s0.0) l3(30.9) 6(14.3) 42 grasslands during the dry season (Ishwaran,1979;1981) "2(4.8) Avg Vo 9.4 41.9 32.2 16.5 The favourable habitat conditions for the elephant in ranges which occurred along the Mahaweli river prior I-Infants; J-Juveniles; SA-Sub Adults; and A-Adult as per to the completion of the AMDP may have also influ- McKay (1973). Parts of these data published in Ishwaran enced the age class structure of elephant populations. (1984) and (1993) In Table l, age-class distributions with respect to in- fants, juveniles, sub-adults and adults for elephants In Table 2, age-class distributions are provided for using the villus and forests in Trikkonamadu, and the elephant populations that were observed in a number Wasgomuwa National Park areas during 198l-1982 of protected areas of Sri Lanka during the 1960s and are provided. Observations provided are for selected the 1970s as reported in McKay (1973) and Kurt (1974). days when the total number of individuals observed Unpublished data from my own studies in Gal was 30 or more and could therefore have comprised Oya National Park and Ampara Sanctuary during 1975- 1977 have also been included. at least lOVo of the population of elephants using the These age-class distri- butions have been derived from (a) respective areas (see Ishwaran, 1993 more details). the total number of observed during a month (McKay, 1973), Gajah 20 (2001) 31

(b) the total number of individually identifiable ani- [See text of the paper for differencees in the methods mals (Kurt, 1974), and(c) the minimum total number used by the different authors in the estimation of of recognisable individuals for months when the larg- number of individuals (percentages in parentheses) per est number of observations were made (Ishwaran, size clas categoryl. unpublished). Despite these differences in the methods used for the estimation of age-class distributions which Sukumar (1939) provides a discussion on scenarios make direct comparisons between the different sets of that could arise from different kinds of relationships data impossible, they may have value as background between age distribution and population growth rates. information for designing future research studies. As he has pointed out, populations could grow due to an increase in fertility, decline in mortality or a com- Both Wasgomuwa and Trikkonamadu populations (Table bination of the two. Given the long life spans of in the early 1980s, had 1), at the time of observations elephants a population could still be growing even home ranges than the other populations less restricted when the percentage of calves in a population is in the protected areas indicated in Table 2. Hence, the falling. While, it would be impossible to make any fact that the two populations described in Table I had statements as to whether or not any of the populations relatively higher percentages of juveniles and lower referred to in Tables I and 2 are growing, declining percentages of adults compared to those populations or stable, the following conjenctures may be used to described in Table 2 provides room for speculations derive hypotheses that could be tested in the future: that may lead to the postulation of hypotheses that could be tested by future research. as elephant range and habitats change from an Trikkonamadu and Table 2 Age class data for other elephant populations "open-ended" situation as in of Sri Lanka from published and unpublished data of Wasgomuwa of the early 1980s to the Parks and various authors from 1967-1976. Sanctuaries referred to in Table 2, population struc- tures may be becoming more dominated by adult SA Total classes; this may well be due to a combination of low mortality of adults, and increased recruitment 7(8.0) 26(2e.9) 23(26.4) 3l(3s.6) 87ni of juveniles into sub-adult and adult classes. 13(14.6) 2r(23.6) 19(23.9) 36(40.s) 89b despite the fact that all protectedarea centred popu- Gal Oya National Park (Hatpatha area) lations in Table 2 have higher percentages of calve 8(12.0) 7(11.1) 26(4r.3) 22(34.9) 63u2 populations referred to in s(r2.2) 7(r7.r) l l(26.8) 18(43.8) 4l^1 in comparison to the two e(1s.0) 14(23.3) 2r(3s.0) 16(26.4) 60.i Table l, all of them have lower percentages of juveniles; this may be due to a lower recruitrnent Ampara Sanctuary from infant to juvenile classes that may be related 9(r4.s) l6(25.8) rs(24.2) 22(3s.s) 62u4 to nutritional and habitat factors influencing infant 7(r4.s) r7(3s.4) 13(27.0) rr(22.e) 48,2 mortality rates. Lahugala 8(r0.6) 23(30.7) 26(34.7) l8(24.0) 75us sex-ratios of sub-adult and adult classes are skewed 2r(r6.e) 29(23.4) 4r(33.1) 33(26.7) 124^6 in favour of females, and in all cases except in Wasgomuwa the ratios of females to males were I - Infants; J-Juveniles: SA- Sub Adults and A-Adults higher among sub-adults than adults; adult and as per McKay (1973). McKay (1973) reporting obser- sub-adult sex ratios approaching unity may be an vations made in August 1967 't, June 68n2, January indicator of decreasing opportunities for sub-adult 69"3 December 68oa. November 67n5 and November and adult males to disperse from their maternal 68"b; Kurt (1974) reporting observations during 1968-69bi herds and home ranges. Such opportunities may be and Ishwaran's (unpublished) observations made in Sep- reducing in protected areas, as surrounding lands tember 1975"r and IN|'ay 197G2 become gradually converted to year-round agricul-

Gajah 20 (2{W) JZ

ture, and habitat fragments suitable for elephant forgotten - in the struggle for common ground, to thg feeding and movement outside of the protected detriment of science and conservation". Similarly, oth- ,.too area become less accessible to elephants. ers have questioned whether there has been much emphasis on the "lose or use" argument for conserv- Protected - aneas management principles, priorities ing species and on econonfc justifications of conser- and practice vation areas" (MacKinnon, 1979). The mix of activi- ties implemented by ICDPs sometimes tilt heavily Principles of managing protected areas, i.e. national towards "development" rather than supporting ,.conser- parks, strict nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries etc., vation". In an ICDP being implemented with financial have changed, particularly since the late 1960s and assistance from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) the early 1970s. The concept of the "human environ- in and around the Kerinci-Seblat National park in ment" introduced during and after the Stockholm Sumatra, Indonesia, 4OVo of the development activities Conference in 1970 has challenged the assumption undertaken consisted of bridge and road construction protected that areas could be managed as enclaves projects; as pointed out by MacKinnon (199?) it was with minimum or no regard to the needs of people not clear whether those roads and bridges "will draw resident in the immediate vicinity of parks and equiva- populations away from the park or actually open the lent reserves. The notion that conservation and devel- hinterland to more developments that further threaten opment are two sides of the same coin has gained the park's integrity". MacKinnon (1997) also agreed ground and peaked at the UN Conference on Environ- with the observation made earlier by Wells & Bran- ment and Development, held in Brzil in 1992. The don (1992) that too many ICDPs turned out to be outcome of the growing recognition of conceptual rural development projects with no obvious linkages linkages between conservation and development has to conservation. had both advantages and disadvantages for protected areas. It is no longer necessary to belabour the point The need for linking conservation and development about the indispensable role protected areas play in has been accepted by most governments and conserva- national economic development. But at the same time, tion groups. Yet, land and resource use activities protected areas may have lost their privilege of being which can co-exist with, and in the long-run benefit isolated enclaves in rural and marginal lands catering conservation are not always easy to identify and ex- to the aesthetic and recreational pursuits of the urban ecute. Where rural poor are resident near protected and well-to-do folks. Protected area managers are more areas there appears to be a tendency to promote crop and more complied to give due consideration to the cultivation as the optimal land use for helping people social and economic well being of the poorer sectors and conservation. In lands within or adjacent to pro- of rural societies resident in the immediate vicinitv of tected areas, which are home ranges of elephants, parks and reserves. raising crops, particularly those belonging to the fam- ily Garminae, such as rice and sugar cane, will most Integrated Conservation and Development Projects, or likely result in human-elephant conflicts. It is perhaps ICDPs, implemented in and around protected areas necessary to identify other income generating activi- have become increasingly attractive to donor agencies ties, e.g. husbandry, community based tourism, because they make an explicit commitment to bringing small scale rural and./ or artisanal industries, and benefits to rural poor and/or tribal and indigenous construction, operation and management of service communties. Some others have, however, cautioned sector installations like schools, research stations and against the tendency in many ICDPs to de-emphasise hospitals etc., whose goals and objectives are more the biodiversity protection objectives of national parks compatible with those of management of habitats for and equivalent reserves. Sanderson & Redford (1997) elephants. Furthermore, the abrupt spatial transition point out that "conservation has become use" and go from an elephant habitat inside a protected area to on to add that the "concerns that fostered the original paddy and/or sugar cane lands immediately outside the concept of biodiversity have been surrendered - even protected area is not a suitable design for a landscape Gajah 20 (2001) JJ

architecture which aims to minimise human-elephant Definition: An area containing one, or more, specific conflicts. natural or natural/cultural features which are of out- standing or unique value because of its inherent rarity, The following "idealized" categories of protected ar- representative or aesthetic qualities or cultural signifi- eas (IUCN, 1997) allow for a broader range of re- cance. source use areas to be juxtaposed with elephant habi-

tats in and around protected areas of Sri Lanka, than CATEGORY IV : Habitat/Species Management Area production, a those solely devoted crop either on A protected area managed mainly for conservation subsistence or industrial scale: through management intervention

CATEGORY I a : Strict Nature Reserve Definition : An area of land and/or sea subject to A protected area managed mainly for science active intervention for management purposes so as to ensure the maintenance of habitats and/or to meet the area and/or possessing Definition: An of land sea requirements of specific species. some outstanding or representative ecosystems, geo- logical physiological features or and/or species, avail- CATEGORYV : Protected Landscape/Seascape able primarily scientific research and/or for environ- A protected area managed mainly for landscape/sea- mental monitoring. scape conservation and recreation

CAIEGORY I Wilderness Area b: Definition: An area of land, with coast and sea as A protected area managed mainly for wilderness pro- appropriate, where the interaction ofpeople and nature tecbon over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, ecological and/or cultural Definition: A large area of unmodified or slightly value, and often with high biological diversity. Safe- modified land, and./or sea, retaining its natural charac- guarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is ter and influence, without permanent or significant vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of habitation, which protected and managed so as to is such an area. preserve its natural condition. CAIEGORY VI :Managed Resource Protected Area CATEGORY II: National Park A protected area managed mainly for the sustainable Protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protec- use of natural ecosystems tion and recreation Definition: An area containing predominantly unmodi- natural Definition: A area of land and/or sea, desig- fied natural systems, managed to ensure long term (a) nated to protect the ecological integrity of one or protection and maintenance of biological diversity, present generations, more ecosystems for and future while providing at the same time a sustainable flow of (b) exclude exploitation the or occupation inimical to natural products and services to meet community needs. purposes of designation of the area and (c) provide a foundation for spiritual, scientific, educational, recre- Of the six categories of protected areas mentioned ational and visitor opportunities, all of which must be above , only Ia and I b would contradict with interven- environmentally and culturally compatible. tionist management strategies. In all other cases inter- ventions to manipulate habitats and resource use in CATEGORY III: Natural Monument order to favour targeted species conservation objec- A protected area managed mainly for conservation of tives could be justifiable. Zoning approaches to pro- specihc natural features tected area management can also facilitate habitat

Gajah 20 (2001) 34

manipulations and other interventionist management Outline of a Protected area centred management regimes to favour elephants in all protected areas. In plan for in-situ elephant conservation in Sri Lanka the Sri Lankan scenario, it is not difficult to foresee an elephant range to €omprise one or more national In Sri Lanka, specific protected area clusters have parks (category II) linked to a wildlife sanctuary (cat- been identified in the past with a view to developing egory IV) with additional areas which may be forest tools such as management plans (see Kotagma et. al., reserves (category VI) and jungle corridors (category 1990). These clusters may still be valid for designing IV V or VI depending on the specifics of the legisla- a plan for elephant conservation. However, current tion used to protect the area). knowledge on elephant movement patterns outside protected areas, and the potential for maintaining the Building a protected area centred in-situ conservation most contiguous elephant ranges must be reviewed and management regime for elephants in Sri Lanka and assessed in order to select one protected area would require that conservationists, resource managers cluster which can serve as a pilot project site to test and demonstrate and planners and scientists accept the philosophy be- the feasibility for linking protected area management hind interventionist management regimes, i.e. that frag- and in-situ conservation of elephant populations. In selecting such a pilot project ments of natural areas legally protected as parks and site, fac- tors such as difficulties in access to parts of a cluster equivalent reserves require : where security conditions may have deterioration since the early 1990s must be given due consideration. (i) explicit definition of their management objectives,

In the early 1980s, the Wasgomuwa-Maduru Oya-Gal (ii) agreement among different land and resource use Oya cluster of reserves was considered to be the agencies regarding strategies and actions prescribed most important from the point of view of conservation and for attaining those objectives, and management of elephants in Sri Lanka (see Ishwaran & Punchi Banda, 1982). Although this cluster, together (iii) effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with Wasgomuwa's links to the Mahaweli floodplains, for assessing the performance of the management is still likely to be the home of the largest concentra- with regard to outcome of the implementation of tion of elephants in Sri Lanka, its choice as a pilot prescribed actions and activities. site for testing and demonstrating in-situ elephant conservation may have been adversely affected by the This would even apply in cases where the manage- following: ment decides to "leave nature as it is"; in such cases maintaining fragments of a natural ecosystem in as deterioration of security conditions which prevent "natural" a state as possible would require a series of accass to the more northeastern parts of the prescriptions with regard to: Mahaweli floodplains and eastern parts of the Gal Oya National Park (i) an appropriate and effective legislative framework to ensure protection, the rejection of the proposal made by the Wildlife Department for a corridorlinking Wasgomuwa and (ii) staff and other resources to regularly patrol the Maduru Oya National Parks because the establisb- areas and to prevent illegal encroachments and ment of such a corridor was considered economi- other violations. and cally unjustihable ((TAMS 1980), and

(iii)education of people resident in the vicinity of the the extent to which elephants, particularly female area in order to seek their compliance with protec- herds, use the Nilgala corridor linking the Maduru tion objectives of the management. Oya and Gal Oya National Parks. Gajah 20 (2NI) 35

Reasons of easy access and the ability to monitor l-1.5 ha., including the area for constructing a house habitat use by elephants in all parts of the protected and establishing home gardens and cultivating paddy. area cluster, including areas which may be outside The extent to which such a small area of land could the boundaries of protected areas, could lead to the provide a sustainable livelihood option and revenues choice of the cluster of reserves extending westwards for many settler families is questionable. In all river from Yala National Park to Uda Walawe National valley development schemes in Sri Lanka, cases where Park as the best option for a pilot project. Access and settlers have been known to either lease or sell their security conditions also play an important role in con- lands to other farmers or even outsiders are not sidering the following in the design and planning of difficult to come across. Hence, the feasibility of a the pilot project: Government Department repurchasing the land from a settler or giving the settler incentives to use it for feasibility to propose alternative resource and land alternative purposes other than agriculture merits seri- use schemes to agriculture in areas immediately ous consideration and should not be dismissed as juxtaposed to protected areas, e.g. animal hus- unrealistic. bandry; community based tourism development, establishment of facilities for research, education Even where agriculture is practised in lands adjacent and/or health that can cater to the needs of nearby to protected areas which are elephant home ranges, resident communities, environment-friendly rural limiting cultivation to the wet season with the inten- industries, and setting up locations for captive herds tion of opening fallow agricultural lands for dry sea- of elephants, such as the orphanage in Pinnawela son grazing by elephants must be investigated' In etc.. agricultural areas southeast of the Wasgomuwa Na- tional Park, elephants were observed feeding in fallow habitat manipulations in selected parts of protected lands during the dry season (Ishwaran, 1993); similar areas where natural habitats have already been observations have been reported for the African el- modified, and in areas outside protected areas ephant too (Lewis, 1986). . where elephant intrusions and crop damage are frequent enough to provide social and economic Despite the fact that indisputable scientific evidence is justifications for changing land use to alternatives lacking for the negative impacts which competition which are less conflicting with elephants from water buffalo and domestic cattle may be having on elephant populations, it will be desirable to minimise Proposals for re-visiting the dogma that agriculture is grazing by domestic cattle in wildlands and keep wild the only land use option in areas immediately adjacent water buffalo populations under check where they protected areas which serve as cores of elephant share grazing areas with elephants. A combination of habitats are likely to be dismissed as utopian. But the prescribed burning and grazing techniques may also social and economic hardships of villagers living un- improve the value of Imperata and other upland, tall- der continuous threat from elephants to their property grass grasslands as elephant habitats (see Ishwaran & and crops may lead them to opt for other livelihood Punchi Banda, 1982). options which are less stressful and have a better revenue generating potential. Land distribution in most Interventions to construct water-holes for the elephants river valley development schemes of Sri Lanka are should be assessed with considerable caution; it would based on egalitarian principles, i.e. each settler is given appar that the creation of water-holes or "mini- the same area of land. The area of land per settler reservoirs" will be justifiable only when they are of family in some of the more recent river valley devel- sufficient size and are subject to a river-flow regime opment projects, such as the AMDR was as low as whose fluctuations can create adequate areas of grass-

Gajah 20 (2001) lands along the edge of the water. Management inter- Table 3 Sex ratios (female/male) among observed numbers

ventions to create and improve grazing opportunities of sub-adult and adult elephants described in Table 1 for elephants should also receive priority consideration Sub-adult adult over "habitat enrichment" programmes planting pre- FA4 M F FA4 ferred browse species of the elephant. Increasing graz- Trikkonamadu Area: ing opportunities is likely to provide better results in containing elephant herds and individuals within pre- a.55 1.0 2 6 3.0 determined limits of their home ranges and minimising b.419 4.75 5 8 1.6 c.36 +. t) J 1.0 crop damage in nearby agricultural lands. 3 d.27 3.5 I 2 2.0 e. 6. 14 2.35 5 8 1.6 Community based tourism development options, as an f.222 ll.0 9 8 0.9 alternative to agricultural crop production, in lands C.510 2.0 2 8 4.0 adjacent to elephant home ranges must be given seri- h.515 3.0 5 t2 2.4

ous consideration. This may be combined with the Avg F/TvI 3.1 2.1 creation of "captive herd populations" similar to that in the Pinnawela orphanage immediately adjacent to Wasgomuwa area the home ranges of wild elephants. The best option b. I 55.02 4 2.0 for success in captive breeding of elephants is to c.3124.0-2 allow females to feed in areas frequented by wild d.-t7-24 2.0 male elephants. This technique is practised in several e.8151.8859 1.8 parks in India, Myanmar and Nepal (see Lur, 1997), f. il 22 1.88 5 9 1.8 where , maintained near protected g. 10 21 2.1 5 15 3.0 h.661.0r4 4.0 areas which provide home ranges for wild elephants, i.492.2524 2.0 also carry visitors and tourists into the protected area, thereby minimising the need for road construction Avg. F/I\4 2.5 31 inside protected areas,

Table 4 Sex ratios (femaldmale) among observed numbers A pilot project which aims to experiment with using of sub-adult and adult elephants described in table 2 a protected area cluster forelephant conservation must be designed on the basis of the best available scien- Sub-adult adult tific date for the particular areas and elephant popula- M FA4 M F FA4 Yala NP tions under consideration. Preliminary studies for rapid 8 15 1.88 10 2.r assessments of elephant movement patterns and popu- 21 6 13 2.2 7 19 2.7 lation structure and for vegetation and land use mapping as well as socio-economic and villager atti- Gal Oya NP tude surveys are likely to be essential. Furthermore, 6 20 3.33 l0 12 1.2 management interventions that are to be tested out 5 6 1.2 ll 7 0.64 must be phrased as hypotheses, i.e. their predicted 6 15 2.5 5 ll 2.2 outcome should be stated explicitly and the time frame for monitoring and evaluating the outcome of Ampara management interventions must be defined (Peterson, 6 9 1.5 ll ll 1.0 6 7 1.l6 4 1996). The results and outcome of the pilot project 7 1.75 must be objectively and rigorously analysed before Lahugala any decision to repeat the project in other elephant 4 22 5.5 8 l0 1.25 ranges is entertained. I 34 4.9 t2 2r r.75 Cajah 20 (2001) tt

Conclusions Mahaweli Development Authority studies on Environ- mental Impact Assessment of the AMDP (1979-1980)' Elephant conservation in Sri Lanka may be nearing a and Michigan State University, USA (1982-1985). Key turning point where research and management may individuals I wish to recognise here are: the late Prof. have to consider taking new directions. The future of Hilary Crusz, Mr Lyn de Alwis, Prof. George A. in-situ elephant conservation would have to rely on Petrides (USA), Dr Charles Santiapillai, DrRobert C. clusters of protected areas and adjacent lands and Olivier (U.K), Martin and Rosemary Sommer (Swit- theirmanagement to improve habitatconditions and ex- zerland), Upali Ekanayake, Lalith Baranage, Tissa pand home ranges. Land use options for villagers resi- Alagoda, and Mr A.M. Punchi Banda and several other dent within and adjacent to elephant ranges must staff of the Depanment of Wildlife Conservation. diversify beyond agriculture and consider animal hus- bandry, community based tourism development, rural My participation in the National Elephant Symposium May and artisanal industries, and the establishment of edu- held at the BMICH, Sri Lanka, on 29 and 30 views and cational and health installations. Areas adjacent to 1998 was in a personal capacity. Hence the expressed in this paper are mine and should wild elephant ranges could also provide locations for opinions not in anyway be interpreted as the policy of LJNESCO managing captive elephant populations and thereby and/or the UNESCO World Heritage Centre where I benefit island wide elephant conservation programmes am employed. and community based tourism operations. The design and implementation of a pilot project for the protected References area cluster between Yala and Udawalawe National Parks, based on the best scientific information avail- Haynes, G. 1991 , mastodonts an'd elephants: able, management interventions posed as scientific hy- biology, behaviour and the fossil record. Cam- potheses and systematic monitoring and evaluation of bridge University Press, UK. results against predicted outcome, could mark a new beginning for linking in-situ elephant conservation and Ishwaran, N. 1979 Ecologiial studies on populations protected area management in Sri Lanka. of elephants in the Gal Oya area in relation to distribution, habitat preference, competition and food Acknowledgements availability. M. Sc. thesis. University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Ideas expressed in this paper were developed during my research career on the ecology and conservation of Ishwaran, N. 1981. Comparative study on elephant the from 1975 to 1985. Several populations in Gal Oya Sri Lanka. Biological Con- institutions and individuals supported my work during servation, 2l : 303-313. that period and I owe my sincere gratitude to all of them. Although I cannot provide a full list here, I Ishwaran, N. 1983. Elephant and woody plant rela- wish to recognise the following institutions which sup- tionship in Gal Oya, Sri Lanka. Biological Conser' ported my research at various stages during the l0 vation, 26:255-270 year period referred to above: Departrnent of Wildlife Conservation and Department of Zoology, University Ishwaran, N, 1984. The ecology of the of Peradeniya (1975-1985), Smithsonion Elephant Ecol- ( maximus L.) in Sri Lanka. Ph.D. thesis. ogy Project, Gal Oya National Park, Sri Lanka (1975- Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA. 77), NARESA, Sri Lanka (1980-82), WWF/IUCN Project on the Conservation of the Asian Elephant- Ishwaran, N.1993. Ecology of the Asian elephant in Planning and Management of the Wasgomuwa-Maduru lowland dry zone habitats of the mahaweli River Oya-Gal Oya Complex of Reserves (1980-82), USAID/ basin. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 9: 169-182.

Gajah 20 (20O1) Ishwaran, N. & Punchi Banda. A. 1982. Conservation Parker, I.S.C. & Graham, A.D. 1989 a. Elephant de- of the Sri Lanka elephant-planning and manage- cline (Part I): downward trends in African elephant ment of the Wasgomuwa-Maduru Oya-Gal Oya distribution and numbers. International Journal of comples of reserves. Final report on Project 1783 Environmental Studies, 34: 287-305 to WWF/IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. Parker, I.S.C. & Graham, A.D. 1989 b. Elephant de- IUCN (1997). 1996 United Nations List of National cline: downward trends in African elephant distri Parks and Protected Areas. Prepared by WCMC bution and numbers (Part II). Intemational Journal and CNPPA, IUCN Gland. Switzerland. and Cam- .of Environmental Studies, 35: 13-26. bridge, UK. Petersen, D.L. 1996. Research in parks and protected Kotagama, S.W., Fernando, V.P. & Ishwaran, N. 1990. areas: forging links between science and manage- A five-year development plan for the wildlift ment, In: National Parks and Protected Areas: conservation and protected area management sec- their role in environmental protection. (ed R.G. tor of Sri lnnl

Kurt, F. 1974. Remarks on the social structure and Sanderson, S.E. & Redford, K.H. 1997. Biodiversity ecology of the Ceylon elephant in Yala National politics and the contest for ownership of the world's Park. In: The behavior of ungulates and its rela- biots. In: Last Stand protected areas ,& the de- tion to management. (eds V. Geist & F. Walther). fense of tropical biodiversity (eds R. Kramer, van pp.6l8-634. IUCN Publication Series No. 24. Schaik, C. & Johnson, J.) pp ll5-132 Oxford Uni- versity Press, New York and London. Lair, R.C. 1997. Gone astray: the care and manage- ment of the Asian elephant in domesticity. FAOI Sarkar, S., Singh, N., Suri, S., & Kothari, A. 1995. RAP Publication 1997116. FAO Regional Office Joint management of protected areas in India. Re- for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand. port of a workshop. Indian Institute of public Administration, New Delhi, India. Lewis, D.M. 1986. Disturbance effects on elephant feeding: evidence for compression in Luangwa Sukumar, R. 1989. The Asian elephant: ecology and valley, Zambia. African Jourual of Ecology, 24: management Cambridge University Press, Cam- 227-241 bridge.

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Gajah 20 (200t)