Dr. Pilapitiya’s clarion call on conservation

By Himal Kotelawala

Sri Lanka is blessed with the highest biodiversity per unit area in Asia. Outside of Africa, our island nation also has the potential to be the best wildlife tourism destination in the world. 

After a morning of watching blue whales frolicking in the seas off the coast of Mirissa, majestic wild elephants are just a couple of hours away, grazing freely in the Yala National Park, famous for its high density of leopards and an abundance of both indigenous and migrant birds and other animal species. 

The Sinharaja and Kanneliya rain forest reserves, bursting with life, are not too far away from there if you take the Southern Expressway through Matara. Then there are all the other national parks scattered across the island, teeming with the kind of exotic flora and fauna most tourists will be hard pressed to find anywhere else on Earth. 

True to our old slogan, Sri Lanka really is a land like no other – at least in terms of spectacle. But for how long it will remain that way is up for debate. Growing threats to the wellbeing of our wildlife and the sheer incompetence of those that have been assigned to protect it are getting in the way of the dividends that we as a country can reap from these resources. It is up to us, then, as concerned members of society, to take action – or at the very least, ensure that those that have been entrusted with the duty of conserving our wildlife do their job.

Successive governments have failed

Former Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya concurs. Delivering a public lecture titled ‘Civil Society’s Role in Conservation’ organised by the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society held on Thursday, Dr. Pilapitiya said that successive governments over the past 30 years have failed to provide adequate attention to matters relating to wildlife conservation and, therefore, it is up to civil society, the media and other stakeholders to ensure that the powers-that-be deals it with the kind of seriousness that it deserves.

“Sri Lanka is a biodiversity hotspot. It’s a hotspot because biodiversity is threatened. Biodiversity influences ecosystem services. Benefits provided by ecosystems contribute to making human life both possible and worth living. If biodiversity contributes to ecosystems to uplifting human life, conservation of biodiversity should be a key development objective of governments. Unfortunately in most instances lip service is paid to conservation, but in actuality very little happens,” said Dr. Pilapitiya.

Quoting from the 2007 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, Dr. Pilapaitya pointed out that 33% of Sri Lanka’s inland vertebrate fauna and 61% of its flora are threatened. Around 33% of the threatened biodiversity is endemic to Sri Lanka. Twenty-one species of endemic amphibians have not been recorded during the past 100 years.

“These species could be therefore for most purposes be considered extinct. One in every 12 species of our inland indigenous vertebrates is currently facing an immediate or extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Experts suggest that this trend will continue unless more systematic and stringent corrective measures are taken,” he said.

According to Dr. Pilapitiya, efforts in conservation are weak at best, based on the data provided in the IUCN red list. One of the critical factors for this, he said, is weak wild life governance. While Government rhetoric on conservation is strong, its actions leave a lot to be desired.

“Actions do not match the rhetoric. Just to qualify, I’m not talking about any specific government. All governments over the last 30 years were responsible for this. Little to no corrective measures have been taken. Even after the 2007 red listing I don’t really see serious measures having been taken by the government to try and deal with the problem. If the Government is not doing it, maybe we as civil society should at least try to figure out how we can change this trend. If not, the biodiversity and the wildlife that we all cherish may not be there for future generations of this country,” he warned.

Wildlife conservation agenda

While there are many driving the wildlife agenda in Sri Lanka, who is driving the wildlife conservation agenda is not clear, said Dr. Pilapitiya.

According to the mandate given under the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance, this responsibility lies with the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).

“I was either too idealistic or too stupid to believe that by becoming DG of Wildlife I could actually change the course of conservation of this country. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Not because the DWC is not interested. The department has problems; no doubt. But given the right conditions, the department can do some work. It is committed and is dedicated to do that. Unfortunately the department is now being relegated to carry out instructions from ministries and political authorities and not actually getting involved in doing conservation work. They’re just carrying out instructions,” he said.

Thanks to a dysfunctional system that has been operating for the better part of three decades, it is the political authorities and the ministry that have been in charge of wildlife.

“There are specific individuals responsible for it but it’s a systemic problem that goes beyond the wildlife sector,” reiterated Dr. Pilapitiya.

“The political authority and the ministry – their mandate is to give policy direction to the department and do monitoring and evaluation to see whether the department actually achieves their objectives. Unfortunately the political authorities and the ministries today – not only in the wildlife sector, but in other areas too – not only do they give policy direction, they give implementation direction and they give technical direction on what needs to be done, leaving the agencies that are responsible for doing it mere servants carrying out orders,” he added.

One of the reasons for a lack of initiative in correcting these problems, according to Dr. Pilapaitya, is that that there is no one stakeholder taking the lead in supporting the DWC to achieve its mandate.

In protected areas, the focus should be on conservation first, protection second, and tourism third. Unfortunately, however, we have been giving priority to tourism, neglecting the other areas, lamented Dr. Pilapitiya.

“Because we think this is a cash cow – the wildlife tourism industry – so let’s milk it for all its worth, without realising that if we continue that line in the long term there will be no resources in this country for us to generate revenue from,” he said.

Dr. Pilapitiya drew attention to two issues of significance that he said are still in early stages of discussion in the Government.

“I’m very nervous. We have to mobilise as civil society to prevent detrimental things from happening to our wildlife,” he said.

The Elephant Gathering

The Elephant Gathering in Minneriya is one of our national treasures. Lonely Planet recognised it as one of the 10 wildlife wonders of the world. According to research carried out by the likes of Srilal Miththapala, said Dr. Pilapitiya, the direct and indirect tourism revenue generated by the Minneriya gathering is in the range of $ 1.25 billion.

“Here we have an asset of elephants that the country’s economically benefitting from to the tune of 1.25 billion dollars. But the Government has a plan of diverting more water to the Minneriya Reservoir so that Minneriya can serve as a stock tank for Kaudulla and Kantale so that those tanks will have water year round. To do that, Minneriya will have to be at spill level,” he said.

If Minneriya is at spill level, he explained, most of the grasslands that are exposed right now will be submerged in water. While conventional wisdom says that elephants come to Minneriya because of its water, according to Dr. Pilapitiya, they’re really making their way there for the fodder; for the grasslands that emerge once the water recedes. “So if large portions of the grasslands are going to be covered, there is not enough food for the elephants who depend on these grasslands for at least five months of the year,” he said.

In the short term this will result in increased human elephant conflict in the area; while in the long term, the conservation future of this 300-400 elephants is in serious jeopardy.

“No irrigation project or agricultural project will earn anywhere close to the $ 1.25 billion earned from tourism. So one wonders why we’re doing this. But this discussion is ongoing right now at the very early stages. We have to get mobilised to try and prevent this from happening,” he said.

Another proposed irrigation project aims to tunnel irrigation water through two four-metre wide pipes over 12km buried underground through the core conservation area of the Wasgamuwa National Park.

“The argument is that it’s going to be buried so there won’t be an impact. But the construction could take at least two years. During the construction period we might cause irreversible damage to the wildlife in the Wasgamuwa National Park. It’s currently under discussion and we have to try and deal with it,” said Dr. Pilapitiya.

While the Department has a mandate to stand its ground and say no to such projects, Dr. Pilapitiya pointed out that the Ministry of Mahaweli Development is under the purview of the President.

“So it’s a huge challenge for the department to object it. That’s where civil society can play a role by raising concerns in a timely manner and not wait till it’s all over to object to it. In fairness, this government is much more receptive to civil society pressure. So we might be able to do something,” he said.

While there have been no studies done on population trends there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that elephant populations in Yala have reduced drastically over the past 20 years. Dr. Pilapitiya said that this is because the department, due to political pressure, erected an electric fence at the southern boundary of the Yala National Park, on land belonging to the Forest Department.

“The buffer zone of the southern boundary is Forest Department land, which is protected from human habitation. There is no reason why we should prevent elephants coming out to Forrest Department land. Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando spoke about this to the Wildlife Department before the fence was erected, appealing them not to do this, telling them that, if you do this, you’re going to take away the dry season home range of the elephants and they will not have not enough food during the dry season inside Yala, and the population might decimate,” recalled Dr. Pilapitiya.

It is, however, futile to blame the DWC for everything, he said, adding that more often than not the Department is helpless in the face of political pressure and constraints faced by DWC officials internally.

There is an urgent need to increase efforts in patrolling of protected areas in order to prevent poaching, but this has yet to happen. The ministry will cite inadequate staffing as a reason – which is true – but, according to Dr. Pilapitiya, it’s more a problem of not deploying existing staff efficiently and methodically.

“The department has a deployment plan which identifies the number of staff, the ranks who should in be in every director’s office, park warden’s office, ranger’s office, beat office, everywhere. I thought great, we have a plan. But looking at the actual deployment, there is no relation between that and the plan,” he said.

For example, there is a disproportionately large number of staff deployed in the Western region (the country is divided to 12 wildlife zones). Dr. Pilapitiya believes that this is due to its proximity to Colombo and other urban centres. 

To be fair to the DWC officials, said Dr. Pilapaitya, no public servant is going to say no to a politician, and it is unwise to except this of them, as they have families to feed and their very survival depends on following directives.

“The conservation community who blames the department for not enforcing the law should understand the constraints faced by them,” he noted.

Overcrowding in national parks

Overcrowding is another serious problem faced by national parks in Sri Lanka. Existing staff need to be redeployed for ticketing services and other visitation services, who could otherwise have been deployed for anti-poaching duties. According to an assessment carried out by the department to see how much revenue the new gates opened in some of the national parks have generated, the Kaltota entrance in Udawalawe has generated 0.5% of the revenue of Udawalawe.

“For this we’re redeploying staff who should be patrolling. Not a sensible approach if we want to conserve wildlife,” said Dr. Pilapitiya.

There are other disincentives for patrolling, too. A recent incident in Yala in which the DWC raided and caught a band of poaches with the carcass of a leopard and over 6kg of sambar meat. According to Dr. Pilapitiya, there had been directives issued to the staff of the department that they should involve the police. The department, under the Flora and Fauna Ordinance, has the mandate to arrest such wrongdoers and produce them in court, which was the course of action they had ended up taking.

“If the powers that be felt that that route should not have been taken, they could’ve been reprimanded for that, not chastised for it. That’s what happened to them. Today, staff have told me all this has happened because they went on a patrol. ‘If we didn’t go on a patrol, nothing would’ve happened. So we shouldn’t go on a patrol.’ We’re disincentivising the patrols,” he said.

There is a lot civil society and the conservation community can do to help. Effective conservation is based on scientifically obtained information for decision making. The private sector has a role to play in this regard, said Dr. Pilapitiya.

“Encourage the private sector – use your CSR money – try to fund some studies, to get information that at least we from civil society can talk in the media and compel politicians to do the right thing. Host panel discussions on controversial subjects bringing all the players together, including the politicians,” he said.

“We all have good political connections. We use those connections to do things we want. I appeal to all of us, can we try to use those connections to force the Government to do the right thing?” he added.

The media too must be encouraged to report wildlife issues responsibly, he said.

Communities living on the periphery of national parks must be educated on the economic benefits of coexisting with wildlife, by convincing them that it’s in their best interest to preserve the flora and fauna that surrounds them.

“Community conversational protection initiatives [need to be introduced]. But communities should have tangible benefits for coexisting with wildlife. The tangible benefits are not there, then the incentive for the communities to support wildlife is not there,” he said.

Tourism is another key area in which there is room for improvement. According to Dr. Pilapaitya, overestimation problems persist in a major way in Yala, Minneriya and the Horton Plains. Wilpattu and Udawalawe, Yala Block 5 and Kaudulla are fast becoming a problem that can be arrested right now, he said.

The problem lies in the fact that the authorities focus on the number of tourists rather than the quality of the experience.

“A vast majority of the tourists – even those on repeat visits – that come to Sri Lanka visit a national park only once. Obviously the experience is not good. Target to make the experience better rather than increase numbers,” he said.

“Jeep mafia”

The so called “jeep mafia” is also another problem that needs to be addressed; but according to Dr. Pilapitiya this a delicate matter that needs to be handled intelligently.

There are currently 658 safari jeeps operating in Yala. This is obviously too high a figure. The DWC has been instructed to limit this number to 150, meaning that 500 drivers could be out of work.

“There are no good economic opportunities, in the Yala, Tissa and Kataragama areas. These people don’t have a livelihood now. They know the park, where the animals are, lucrative bush meat market. Most likely they’ll end up poaching,” warned Dr. Pilapitiya.

“You can’t rush into this. It requires a phased approach. Open blocks 3, 4, 5. Allow vehicles to go into them (excellent wildlife, but low sightings). But over a year, sightings will improve. When that happens, put limits. So that you accommodate these 658 but not do it in a way that you overcrowd one block,” he explained.

Sadly, things are being reversed. Continued political interference of management in the park, according to Dr. Pilapitiya, has resulted in a previous decision to put a cap on the 658 jeep count so that no new vehicles can be registered is now being repealed.

“Vehicles means votes,” said Dr. Pilapitiya, darkly.

It is clear, therefore, that as long as political interference continues to exist – and let’s face it, that’s not going away anytime soon – Yala and other national parks will continue to be a mess and conservation is going to remain a pipe dream. This is where civil society can come in. Dr. Pilapitiya agrees.

“There is very little hope in expecting the authorities to take care of the problem. We have to pressurise them to take care of the problem. Conservation in Sri Lanka will fail if it continues this way. Calling upon civil society to move beyond the advocacy and watchdog role (that we’re playing very effectively), but move beyond it. Work with the media, channel private sector and CSR money for conservation. Random acts are good, but it’s time to do something collectively to actually make an impact,” he said.

He called on the private sector and civil society to form partnerships with DWC, and to assist them, they’re clearly unable to drive the conservation agenda on their own.

“Work with them to ensure we can deal with the political pressure. They can’t. We can. We can raise issues with politicians. The time is right for civil society to drive the conservation agenda in Sri Lanka,” he said.