Sri Lanka’s Elephant Crisis: “No Single solution, but a collective Will” – Jehan CanagaRetna

Sri Lanka has lost more than 6,400 elephants in the past 24 years — an average of over 260 per year — and 250 more have died in just the first six months of 2025. For Jehan CanagaRetna, Vice President and Head of the Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) Sub-Committee of the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS), these statistics are a painful reminder of a crisis that has escalated to alarming levels.

- By Ifham Nizam

“The numbers keep me awake at night,” he said, speaking to The Island. “We've known for decades that this wasn’t a problem that would disappear overnight. Human-elephant conflict has been brewing for more than 50 years. Without a systematic, united approach, there won’t be light at the end of the tunnel.”

A longstanding battle

Sri Lanka’s elephant population, estimated at around 6,000, is among the largest remaining populations of Asian elephants in the world. Yet as forests shrink due to agriculture, infrastructure, and human settlements, elephants are increasingly forced into villages and paddy fields in search of food. This conflict has become one of Sri Lanka’s most pressing environmental and social challenges, killing an average of 400 elephants and over 150 people annually.

CanagaRetna, a conservation leader with decades of experience and affiliations with Greenpeace South Asia and the Rainforest Alliance, believes the country has the knowledge to turn the tide — but lacks the political will.

“The science is there. Solutions exist. But successive governments have failed to prioritise this issue,” he said. “HEC is not just a wildlife problem. It’s a rural poverty problem, a national security issue, and a matter of cultural heritage. The elephant is part of our identity as Sri Lankans. Losing them would be a tragedy.”

A National Plan, Gathering Dust

In 2017, Sri Lanka unveiled a comprehensive National Action Plan on HEC, designed by a committee led by world-renowned elephant biologist Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando. The plan recommended science-driven strategies, from landscape-level land use planning to village-centric electric fencing.