UNDP launches SL's first Livestock Insurance Scheme to curb leopard killings

UNDP Sri Lanka through BIOFIN to cover cost of insurance premium LOLC Insurance to act as insurance provider

- BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE

THE United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Tuesday launched Sri Lanka's first Livestock Insurance Scheme in collaboration with the Wildlife and

Nature Protection Society (WNPS) and LOLC Insurance, under the guidance of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), to compensate farmers for animals lost to leopard attacks and reduce retaliatory killings of the endangered species.

UNDP Sri Lanka Resident Representative Azusa Kubota said the initiative was “not merely an isolated act of conservation, but a collective commitment to preserving the beauty, biodiversity and the economic opportunity nature provides for all of us.” Kubota went on to remark that saving the endangered Lankan Leopard, the apex predator of the island’s terrestrial ecosystems, was also a means of acknowledging its role as an “economic driver” in the tourism industry.

Remarking that Sri Lanka was not alone in the rising human-wildlife conflict and drawing examples from several regional counterparts, Kubota acknowledged the challenges insurance schemes entail.

Applauding the quick compensation' feature of the newly launched scheme as a 'trust-building factor' among the communities, Kubota pledged the UNDP's continuous support for a proactive initiative that would practically work for people.

With the country's depleting forest cover, our very own iconic leopard's (Panthera pardus kotiya) future is bleak, driving it to humandominated areas where it comes to conflict with communities, occasionally preying on livestock. This results in significant economic losses for rural farmers, triggering retaliatory killings, further endangering the species.