Regulations under Fauna & Flora Protection Ordinance presented to Parliament

The Regulations under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance were presented in the Parliament today (September 22).

The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Wildlife & Forest Conservation held on September 21st chaired by C. B. Rathnayake, Minister of Wildlife & Forest Conservation, was in agreement to present the aforesaid in Parliament. 

The Extraordinary Gazette Notification was issued on 19th August 2021 in this regard.

Addressing the Committee, the Secretary to the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Conservation Somaratne Vidanapathirana stated that the purpose of this Extraordinary Gazette Notification is to introduce a new set of regulations for the welfare of tame elephants, to introduce new technology to avoid possible irregularities in the registration of tame elephants and to facilitate court proceedings regarding tame elephants.

Prof. Tissa Vitarana addressing the committee stated that the policy formulated by Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando with practical experience obtained for over seven years entirely subsidized the conflict and that the cost has been kept to a minimum. He said that by implementing such a policy, the human-elephant conflict could be largely mitigated.

In response, C. B. Rathnayake, Minister of Wildlife & Forest Conservation said that these policies are currently being implemented and further action will be taken in this regard.

Given the inquiry made by Kanaka Herath regarding the construction of an elephant fence for the Kumbukkana Nursery, the attention of the committee was drawn towards the concern regarding the lack of energizers for the elephant fence. Accordingly, the Minister of Wildlife & Forest Conservation recommended that the Industrial Technology Institute of Sri Lanka be summoned before the committee at the next committee meeting to discuss further details regarding the matter.

Wimalaweera Dissanayake, State Minister of Wildlife Protection, Adoption of Safety Measures including the Construction of Electrical Fences and Trenches and Reforestation and Forest Resource Development, Members of Parliament, and a number of government officials participated at this Committee Meeting.