WILDLIFE PROJECTS

Long-Term Conservation in Action

Every stay funds fieldwork to protect Sri Lanka’s wildlife and the ecosystems they depend on. Our first two focus areas are elephants (HEC mitigation on land) and dugongs (seagrass/mangrove protection at sea)—keystone/indicator species whose futures signal the health of entire landscapes and coastlines.

Elephant Conservation & Protection

The Hard Data

Human–Elephant Conflict (HEC)

Sri Lanka is home to one of the last remaining wild Asian elephant populations in the world. Densely populated with humans, it is 

  • Mortality crisis — 470 elephant deaths and 176 human deaths were recorded in 2023 alone. This represents a mortality rate unsustainable for a population of just ~6,000 elephants (2011 census; 2024 census pending).
  • Habitat pressure — elephants now survive in only ~60% of their historic range due to agricultural expansion, settlements, and unplanned fencing.
  • Conflict concentration — hotspots cluster in the dry zone, especially in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and Hambantota districts, where poor fence design has fragmented elephant corridors.

  • Leading causes of elephant mortality include shootings, improvised explosives (“hakka patas”), electrocution and train collisions—documented in official breakdowns.

Our near‑term solution

Mobile Wildlife Response Unit

A deployable team of wildlife veterinarians, rangers and conflict‑mitigation officers that can move rapidly to incident sites and coordinate with communities and the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). What it does:

  • Emergency Veterinary:  darting, field surgery, and relocation for injured elephants, leopards, and other large mammals.injured by snares, electrocution, vehicles or conflict.

  • Rapid, non‑lethal conflict mediation (deterrents, crowd management, safe elephant passage) to de‑escalate crop‑raid situations.

  • Evidence-based deterrence: pilot projects for solar-powered fences designed according to corridor-use studies, not political boundaries.

  • Incident logging & evidence collection: GPS, photos, cause‑of‑death, deterrent performance to feed policy and prevention.

  • Community Training: sessions led with DWC rangers to align village-level practices with proven conflict-reduction methods. E.g., properly sited community‑managed seasonal electric fences; avoiding permanent fencing of seasonal fields, which can worsen HEC by blocking movements).

Why we emphasize

Community‑led, evidence‑based mitigation

Sri Lanka’s National Action Plan (2020) reviews and prioritizes tools ranging from fencing to landscape management; independent studies show well‑planned community fences can reduce crop damage, while poor siting/maintenance or fencing seasonal fallows can be counterproductive. Our MWRU is designed to operate within that framework and strengthen implementation where gaps exist.

  • Establish <6-hour emergency response capacity across Southern and Central provinces.

  • Log and publish at least 150 conflict incidents into a public-access database.

  • Conduct 10+ community training sessions with pre- and post-evaluation metrics.

  • Pilot 3 science-based fence projects, measuring changes in elephant crop raids.

  • Sign formal MoU with DWC ensuring government integration.

FUND THE RESPONSE UNIT

Dugongs, Seagrass & Mangroves

4
A Home for Conscious TraveLlers

Status & threats

Sri Lanka’s dugongs (Dugong dugon) represent one of the last remaining isolated populations in the Indian Ocean. Current estimates suggest fewer than 200 individuals, but no full population survey has been completed.

  • Sri Lanka holds a small, resident, isolated dugong population in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay; sightings are rare and population size is unknown, making bycatch and habitat loss especially risky. 

  • Gillnet bycatch and seagrass degradation are leading threats across the region; global reviews flag gillnets as a major mortality driver for marine mammals. In Sri Lanka, key seagrass habitats are concentrated in the Gulf of Mannar/Palk Bay.

  • Seagrass meadows have shown historic global declines (~1.5%/year in earlier decades), though recovery is possible with protection and restoration. 

  • Mangroves are exceptionally carbon‑dense ecosystems (mean ≈ 1,023 Mg C/ha, with soils holding most of the stock), providing coastal protection and nursery habitat that benefit fisheries and dugong food webs.

6
From Mapping to Restoration

Our Program Priorities

  • Baseline Habitat Mapping: participatory mapping with fishers, ranger patrols and researchers to locate seagrass beds/dugong use areas.

  • Bycatch mitigation pilots: co‑design and test measures with fishing communities (seasonal/area management in seagrass zones, net modifications/effort shifts where appropriate), paired with community bycatch reporting and rapid response. 

  • Restoration Trials: small scale seagrass transplant  in suitable sites and mangrove rehabilitation for blue‑carbon, nursery habitat, and shoreline protection co‑benefits. 

  • Awareness & livelihoods: outreach in Mannar/Palk Bay and micro‑grants for low‑impact gear or alternative income tied to conservation compliance (leveraging lessons from prior regional dugong projects).

  • Policy alignment: collaboration with the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) to feed findings into Sri Lanka’s National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan.
6
Documented from Day One

Year‑1/2 targets

    • Produce first open-source dugong sighting map for Sri Lanka.

      • Community‑validated map of priority seagrass meadows

    • 3 pilot fishing‑ground agreements in or adjacent to seagrass zones; ≥50 fishers participating in bycatch reporting.

    • Establish 2 mangrove nurseries and 1 pilot seagrass restoration site.

      • 10–20 ha of seagrass and mangrove sites selected for restoration/enhancement with monitoring baselines established.

    • Public quarterly updates on encounters, bycatch reports, and habitat status.

      • Submit seagrass and dugong data to IUCN’s global dugong database.

PROTECT SRI LANKA'S MARINE LIFE