On going Projects
Project on Karawita Ecological Network of the Sinharaja Forest Range Landscape
SFA: Sri Lanka: Sinharaja Forest Range Landscape, Karawita Ecological Network Project
Implemented by the Public Interest Law Foundation in Partnership with the Forest Conservation Department with Funding and Technical Support of the Rainforest Trust
The Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) in partnership with the Forest Conservation Department (FCD), is implementing this project focusing on three fragmented forests within the Sinharaja Forest Range Landscape (SFRL). These three forests, namely, Viharakanda, Malwala/Aludeniya and Karawita forests, belong to the Karawita Ecological Network (KEN). The KEN is one of the six Ecological Networks in the Sinharaja Forest Range Landscape — a globally significant biodiversity hotspot with high species diversity, including many point endemics, as recognised in the SFRL Management Plan, 2022. The KEN also consists of the Magurugoda forest which has already been declared as a Conservation Forest under the Forest Conservation Ordinance. The objective of this project is to declare Viharakanda, Malwala/Aludeniya and Karawita forests as Reserved Forests
under the Forest Conservation Ordinance; and thereafter prepare a Management Plan for the KEN.
By securing and managing these forests as a connected Ecological Network, the project will
enhance biodiversity conservation and ecosystem resilience in line with national and global goals, while offering a replicable model for managing other fragmented wet-zone forests in Sri Lanka.
The project is implemented with the financial and technical support of the Rainforest Trust. www.rainforesttrust.org
Sharing Space: Co-existence through Understanding
Mitigating the Human-Elephant Conflict through Awareness and Education on Elephant Behaviour, New Approaches to Human-Elephant Co-existence and Economic Benefits for Communities
The Public Interest Law Foundation (PILF) is seeking funding for the project titled “Sharing Space: Co-existence
through Understanding” to address the Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) which is a spiralling environmental and social problem in Sri Lanka.
The Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) affects both elephants and humans. Loss of lives is common for both, while
elephants suffer further due to habitat loss, and humans due to injury, property and crop damage. Since 2019, it is recorded that on average, 125 people and 370 elephants have died annually in Sri Lanka due to the HEC.
While threatening the Sri Lankan elephant—an iconic species and part of our national heritage, which is of immense
environmental and economic value to the country, the HEC drives rural communities into poverty and socio-economic instability.
This project proposes to mitigate the HEC through a new approach. This is by promoting Human- Elephant
Co-existence by understanding elephant behaviour. The project will create awareness on this new approach while
bringing economic benefits for the communities.
PILF together with Experts on Elephant Behaviour wish to pilot test this project over a period of two years, in a selected village in the Anuradhapura District where HEC exists.
Your generous donations will make this project a reality.
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/model-for-human-elephant-co-existence-sri-lanka/