By Salik Ansar | Project Manager
We’re fast approaching Earth Month in April, themed this year as OUR POWER, OUR PLANET. While this predominantly focuses on renewable energy, we at Trunks & Leaves will take a different angle - that the PEOPLE are the POWER on our PLANET.Human communities living alongside wildlife hold the key to conservation success. As we continue our efforts to foster coexistence between humans and nature's majestic creatures, particularly Asian elephants, we are excited to share some of the latest developments in our mission. Your continued support has been invaluable in driving these efforts forward. Together, we are making a meaningfuldifference in protecting wildlife while enhancing rural livelihoods and resilience.
The Urgency of Our Work
Every year, approximately 400 elephants and 100 humans lose their lives due to human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka alone. In 2024, the leading causes of elephant deaths were electrocution (81 deaths), locally manufactured explosive-laden baits known as "jaw bombs" (56 deaths) and gunshot wounds (51 deaths). Train collisions also contribute to these fatalities, with numbers fluctuating annually—2024 saw seven deaths, while 2023 recorded 24 elephant deaths.
Despite these sobering statistics, there is cause for optimism. Following recent elections, Sri Lanka's environmental and wildlife sectors are seeing positive policy developments. Government officials are actively collaborating oncritical issues including mitigating human-elephant conflict, conducting a nationwide wildlife census, and developing more effective measures to reduce wildlife fatalities. These coordinated efforts offer hope for a future where humans and wildlife can coexist peacefully.
Alternative Crop Project: Progress and Adaptation
Our Alternative Crop Project continues to grow momentumwith 300 participating farming families showing remarkable enthusiasm and cooperation. Their engagemnet has been instrumental to our progress as we launch the implementation phase of this initiative.
Implementation Highlights:
- Strategic Pilot Launch: We carefully selected 40 farmers from our participants to pioneer our approach. (These 40 farmers also participated in our behavioral study.) Of these, 20 are now cultivating alternative crops - moringa, local orange, or lime, while 20 will serve as a control group receiving financial stipends to maintain their traditional crops. This dual approach will help us better understand the impact of alternative crops on livelihoods, communities, and human-elephant conflicts.
- Comprehensive Distribution: Successfully delivered 3,610 saplings to our first 20 participating farms, to cover 0.5 acres per farm, totaling approximately 10 acres of agricultural land.
- Adaptive Management:However, we encountered some challenges along the way. In December 2024, Sri Lanka experienced heavier-than-usual rainfall, which resulted in crop flooding. While lime and local orange saplings remained unaffected, nearly 85% of the moringa crop was destroyed. The team took a month to assess whether we should replace moringa with another crop, such as pomegranate, or continue with moringa, but adjust the timing of sapling distribution to avoid the rainy season. After careful consideration, we decided to move forward with the latter option, and the team is now working on how to distribute saplings to the remaining 300 participants.
- Adaptive Management: When unusually heavy December rainfall destroyed approximately 85% of the moringa crop, our team quickly assessed options and decided to maintain our crop selection while adjusting distribution timing to avoid future rainy seasons.
Behavioral Study
Our behavioral research component is providing crucial insights into how elephants interact with different crops. Our PhD Student, Sateesh Venkatesh, has retured to Sri Lanka to lead the second phase of the behavioral study, working alongside the field team and 40 dedicated farmers.
Using stategically placed cameras and audio recorders, we’re monitoring changes in elephant behavior as farmers implement new cropping strategies. The first phase concluded in June and this data is currently under analysis at the University of San Diego, USA. The second phase officially began in January 2025. There were a few key takeaways from the first phase: some farmers were careless, leading to damage of the equipment, and a few audio recorders were affected by the heavy rainfall. Despite these challenges, the phase largely went as planned. For the second phase, we’ve implemented improved monitoring to ensure smoother operations.
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By Salik Ansar | Project Manager
By Salik Ansar | External Consultant
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