Journal of the Department of Wildlife Conservation 2006-1: 113-118

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SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND ECONOMIC POTENTIALS OF DOMESTICATION OF ELEPHANT AS A MEAN OF ELEPHANT

CONSERVATION IN SRI LANKA

A.M.S.T. ATHAUDA*

Department of Agricultural Economics and Business Management Faculty of Agriculture,University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT

Loss of elephant habitats appears to be the main reason that leads to human

elephant conflicts in most parts of the Dry Zone in Sri Lanka. Capturing and domestication of wild elephants is identified as one of the means of elephant conservation which promote the coexistence between humans and elephants that existed for generations. However, with the recent structural changes in the society and the economy such as mechanization and increased wage rates, captive elephant conservation may not be attractive as it was before. With this background, this study aimed at identifying the social as well as economic problems, and suggesting possible remedies that help to promote domestication of elephants.

The study was based on collecting the data from a survey and discussions with key informants. The survey was comprised of a mail survey based on structured questionnaire and face-to-face interviews. The study found that since elephants are reared in Wet Zone, feed availability is not a major problem. However, most of the elephant owners have to make payments for the feeds. Indigenous, western or both veterinary practices are used for captive elephants. Generally, a single mahout is used to control an elephant and most of the mahouts live below the poverty line. Most of the elephants in homegarden are reared for prestige, while temples and devalas keep elephants for ceremonies. Hotels and orphanages rear elephants with the intention of attracting tourists. When compared costs and revenues, orphanages and hotels enjoy with marvelous profits. Thus hotels that receive profit can rear captive elephants, where there is a demand for elephant safaris, rides, etc. In addition to that, tamed captive elephants can be used to establish an elephant park, which is a win-win solution for both owners and people who take pleasure from elephant related activities.

INTRODUCTION

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) represents one of the most

seriously endangered species of large mam in the world. It is one of the few terrestrial megaherbivores extant in the world. In Sri Lanka elephants are declared as a protected species in 1937, under the enactment of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance.

During past five decades, the Sri Lankan population declined drastically mainly due to loss of habitats caused by deforestation and forest fragmentation. Domestication of elephants for various purposes including logging and cultural purposes has bear a practice in Sri Lanka and other African countries. Capturing and domestication of those wild elephants can be considered as a one of the measure of elephant conservation. The number of purposes with regard to rearing of captive elephants are gain income, social prestige, use in ceremonies for promote tourism activities. In practice, mostly captive elephants are kept for one more of alternative purposes. Presently, there are about 15,000 elephants in captivity in the world (Sukumar, 1986) while 214 captive elephants in Sri Lanka (Santiapillai, 199

115

Mahouts are the people who handle the elephants. In early times mahouts are available from generation to generation and they are well-trained people. However, now adays people reluctant to work as mahouts.

Present status of captive elephant conservation in Sri Lanka

At present, four types of captive elephant conservation methods are formed in Sri Lanka. They are individual people keep in their home gardens, temples and devalas keep in their garden, hotels keep captive elephants for tourism and keep captive elephants in the orphanages.

Jainudeen and Jayasinghe (1970) stated that the more wealthy and aristocratic families were living in those areas and they keep elephants for prestige.

The studies on captive elephants clearly indicate that captive elephant

population is declining rapidly. There were 736 captive elephants in 1946(Santiapillai & De Silva), while in year 1955 there were 670 (Dereniyagala, 1955), According to the DWLC reports there were 344 domesticated elephants and this was declined to 214 by 1997(Jayewardene, 1997). The elephants in captivity decline over the time due to a number of reasons. Most of the captive elephants are too old thus their lifetime declines rapidly, absence of practicing breeding programmes among captive elephants, government banned to capture elephants from the wild and lack of veterinary practices and lack of availability of well-trained mahouts are rare of there.

Most of the captive elephants feed kitul, jack and coconut. Elephants need ample amount of feed per day. Dry matter need of the elephant is 0.5% of the body weight and daily ration should be according to the age groups (Krishnamurthy, 1992). Therefore, finding of this amount of feeds is much more difficult. Because growth rate of those trees are lower than the feed requirement rate of the captive elephants.

However compared to the world captive elephant population, Sri Lankas captive elephant population is fairly low. Large numbers of captive elephant population are found in Myanmar, Thailand, India and Lao. Fifty percent of world captive elephant population lives in those countries. In Myanmar, captive elephants are used for many works such as, timber extraction (logging), transportation (as baggage elephants in hilly forests), religious ceremonies and processions, capturing wild elephants, state functions and ceremonies, tourism and agricultural activities in difficult areas. India possesses 20 percent of captive elephant population of Asia and they are used of the cultural activities in India and provide lot of care for them. Problem justification

As discussed earlier, deprivation of habitats for elephants appear to be the main problem of elephants. Given the limited forest coverage of 22% of total land area in Sri Lanka, it has been identified domestication of wild elephants as one of the solution of mitigating human elephant conflict in Sri Lanka by a number of experts.

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Though the practice of capturing and rearing has been done in Sri Lanka,

for generations, given the limited land reserves and substitution by mechanical equipments, this option has to be justifiable economically. Of new areas of captive elephants, though tourism appears to be somewhat attractive, its economic potential has not been investigated. Therefore, in order to recommend elephant domestication on measures of conservation, it is of paramount importance to investigate the economics and the social aspects of the various means of captive elephant conservation

Against this background the objective of this study are to get an insight on present socio economic condition of captive elephant conservation so as to identify the problems of the elephant owners and then information would be helpful to develop meaningful recommendation to promote domestication as a mean of elephant conservation in Sri Lanka.

METHODOLOGY

The study is manly based on data collected through primary survey. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire which includes general information, information on feeding, veterinary practices, bathing facilities, mahouts, income and specific information based on different type of captive elephant conservation methods. Face-to-face interviews and mail surveys were used to collect the data based on snowball sampling.

The target population of the study was composed of people who own elephants. Basnayake Nilames or chief incumbent of temples, chief of devalas, hotel owners who rear elephants and the officer-in-charge of the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. The sample consisted, nineteen elephant owners, eight Buddhist priest or Basnayake Nilames, two hotel owners and the officer- in-charge of the Orphanage at Pinnawala. The data analysis includes computation of the descriptive and cross tabulation. Statistical software Minitab was used for the analysis.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The situation presents the current status of rearing of elephants such as sources of feed, feed type, feed availability, feed cost, veterinary practices, and mahouts, bathing facilities, cost and revenue. Source of receiving elephants

DWC does not allow capturing elephants from the wild. As a result, remaining captive elephant number increase or renew only through breeding programmes. However, breeding programmes are not generally practice in domestic elephants. The survey finds that the most of the elephants (54.44%) reared in homegarden are reared by generations (Figure 1). In temples and devalas, most of the elephants were purchased from outside. This is in additions to the donation by Presidents and Priministers that is account for 25% of the

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domestic elephants. In temple of tooth relic, this was about 100%. The elephants in Pinnawala are directly captured by the DWC. However this was done by early stages and most of that elephants were captured due to bad health conditions and some were translocated from war areas. According to the different studies there are more number of male elephants in the wild and capturing of males will not be a big problem. In addition to that orphanage increase captive elephant number through breeding programmes since they have huge potential of spending ability and veterinary practices. As a result captive elephant number in orphanage increases with time. Though private owners show a high demand for tamed elephants and prefer adults, as those are directly profitable it is very difficult to do it more pragmatically. Capturing of elephants from the wild is a very huge task and need much cost and man power to do it. Well trained people are needed to that activity. After capturing translocation have to practice and it is very difficult task. The most common method for catching elephants is tranquillizing and translocation them by truck. As a result direct capturing cannot be practiced by individual people and temple and devala, who need elephants.

Figure 1. Source of receiving elephant

Types and sources of feed

Feed type

Dung studies indicate that elephants eat around 140 different species, approximately 120kg per day. They prefer grasses, thorny and seasonal plants which have less chemical defenses. Among those feeds most common types of feeds are Kitul, coconut and jack. Captive elephants in homegarden are mainly fed on Kitul (32.73%), coconut (27.27%) and jack (25.45%) (Figure 2) Due to the weakness of some captive elephant, owners give sustenance feed for them.

Percentage based on type of conservation

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Home garden Temple &devala

Hotel Orphanage

Type of conservation

Perc

enta

ge

Reared by generation

Out side purchase

Direcly captured

Puchased from anauctionOther

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Eventhough feed cost is high, owners provide those feeds, because of keeping elephants for social prestige. This special feed ration include mixture of feeds, eight breads, federal, cytoxine, protinex, soya flour(1kg), glucose, mung flour(500g), rice flour(1kg), four samaposa packets, sesame, rulan and Nestomalt. This feed ration give daily with the purpose of improving health conditions of the weak elephants. Consequently, elephants in hotels require much more feed compared with others.

Orphanage also had a special feed ration, which include kitul leaves, kitul trunk, jack leaves, coconut leaves and mixture of other leaves which increase taste. These are bought from outside contractors. There are five baby elephants also in the orphanage. These baby elephants were fed in milk, in addition to leaves. Each baby elephant receive a packet of Lactogen per milk time and there were five milk times per day.

Figure 2. Feed types

Feed availability

According to the results of the survey, feed availability is high among areas where captive elephants are reared. Most of these areas belong to wet zone, thus vegetation is available throughout the year. However, some of people who rear captive elephants in homegarden indicated difficulty in finding feeds while others experienced that it is extremely difficult to find the feeds (Figure 3). Though temples and devalas possess high amount of land area, they do not keep elephants in those lands, because of lack of water availability and feeds. Orphanage normally has enough amounts of feeds, as they purchase them suppliers from outside. Since orphanage is a government institution, their budget is covered through government fund allocation and in addition to that they earn huge income which could be able to spend buy feeds from out side suppliers.

Percentage based on type of conservation

05

1015202530354045

Home garden Temple &devala

Hotel Orphanage

Type of conservation

Perc

enta

ge

KitulCoconutJackother

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Figure 3. Feed availability

Source of finding of feeds

Elephant owners find the feeds for elephants either from freely or with some payment. All types of elephant owners buy feeds for their elephants (Figure 4). Since orphanage possesses seventy captive elephants, they cannot find such amount of feeds with freely, also they have enough amounts of funds to allocate feeds and as a result they totally depend on outside feed suppliers. Most of the people rear elephants in homegarden and temple and devala, owned large land areas. Thus they can find some amount of feeds with freely. Some elephants that are in hotels are reared by generation, hence they possess large land areas, and thereby they obtain part of elephant feeds with freely. However all types of elephant owners buy large proportion of feeds from outside suppliers and spend huge cost on feed.

Figure 4. Source of finding of feeds

Percentage based on type of conservation

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Homegarden

Temple &devala

Hotel Orphanage

Type of conservation

Perc

enta

ge

Very highHighDifficultExtremly difficult

Pecentage based on type of conservation

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Homegarden

Temple Hotel Orphanage

Type of conservation

Perc

enta

ge

FreePayment

120

Feed cost

Pinnawala orphanage incurs a very high feed cost per elephant relative to other conservation strategies, which is around Rs.3,64,285 (Figure 5). Temples and devalas also spend high cost for feeds of elephants, because they possess paddy fields and other income sources. As a result, they spend much on feeds. Since hotels concern about profit, they spend less amount of money on feeds. However, the elephant feed costs of hotel is Rs.300-500 /elephant/day and around 4-5 people take care for the food supply. Most food comes from the coconut plantations nearby.

Feed cost

142642

214735

179666.5

364285 Home gardenTemple & devalaHotelOrphanage

Figure 5. Feed cost

Veterinary practices Type of veterinary practices

Both western as well as indigenous veterinary practices are used. However, use of indigenous veterinary practices diminishing due to number of reasons such as, lack of Finding of indigenous veterinary doctors are difficulties of finding of these medicines,

Western veterinary practices are popular among elephant owners. Recovery rate is high with veterinary practices and western veterinary practices are highly available throughout captive elephant conservation areas.

People, who rear elephants in home gardens and temples and devalas, mainly use both veterinary practices due to low cost while orphanage totally depends on western veterinary practices (Figure 6). There are two veterinary doctors attached to Pinnawala elephant orphanage and they give special vaccines to the elephants. In addition to that keep litters in very clean. Regular check ups are practiced by the veterinary doctors in orphanage.

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Figure 6. Type of veterinary practices

People, who rear elephants in home gardens and temples and devalas, mainly use both veterinary practices due to low cost while orphanage totally depends on western veterinary practices (Figure 6). There are two veterinary doctors attached to Pinnawala elephant orphanage and they give special vaccines to the elephants. In addition to that keep litters in very clean. Regular check ups are practiced by the veterinary doctors in orphanage.

Veterinary cost

Highest veterinary cost is spent in homegardens, because there are two elephants that are weak and old thus owners spend high cost to improve their health status (Figure 7). Orphanage also spends much cost on veterinary practices. Elephants in orphanage receive vermicides in every four-month and when they sick, doctors give penadols and one dosage include twelve penadols. People rear elephants in home garden for social prestige are wealthier people. Therefore, they spend much cost on veterinary practices. Hotels do not much concern on veterinary practices, because of their main purpose is to obtain income.

Since elephants are large animals, providing of veterinary practices are cost effective, because owners have to give large dosage to recover elephants. Elephants are aggressive therefore providing veterinary practices incorporate with danger; as a result, owners have to spend much on the doctors fee.

Figure 7. Veterinary cost

Bathing facilities

Percentage based on type of conservation

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Home garden Temple &devala

Hotel O rphanage

Type of conservation

Perc

enta

geW esternIndegeneousBoth

Veterinary cost

28052

17562.5

13333.5

20000

Home gardenTemple & devalaHotelOrphanage

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Elephants mainly bathe in rivers. Since elephants are large animals, they need large water bodies for bath (Figure 8). Most of the captive elephant rearing areas belong to wet zone in Sri Lanka. As a result, water is available throughout year in those water sources. Difficulties in finding water sources are not a main problem among captive elephant owners. Rivers, lakes streams are found in those areas, such as Mahaweli River, Maha oya, etc. However finding of good quality water is difficult during rainy season is a problem among owners because of mixing of mud with water.

Figure 8. Bathing facilities

Mahouts

The role of mahouts is crucial in captive elephant conservation. In most cases, owners hire one or two mahouts to handle the elephants in captivity. Since the elephants are so aggressive during musth period two mahouts are used to handle them. Captivity elephants need to be chained; however this will make them aggressive towards mahouts. Home garden and temple and devala use two mahouts to control an elephant, while hotels and orphanage use only one mahout. Hotels and orphanage mainly concern about their profit. For that reason keeping two mahouts per elephant is an additional cost for them. As a result, they keep only one mahout to handle their elephants. However, some mahouts are coming from generation; therefore they possess enough skills to handle more than one elephants. In the orphanage, a mahout controls several captive elephants. Number of mahout per elephant, is an important issue to provide better care and attention for elephants.

Wages of mahouts are important issue due to a number of reasons Low wages leads to low level of living of mahout population and it leads to less care to elephants by mahouts. On the other hand, high mahout wage rate will alter the profits of keeping elephants. The study revealed that mahouts serve in hotels and the orphanage, receive Rs.3500- 6000 wage per month (Figure 9). When elephants participate to processions, owners receive income and most of the time this income goes to the mahouts. Most of the mahouts in hotels receive around Rs.6000.00 per month. However, it was found that some temples and devalas do

Percentage based on type of conservation

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Home garden Temple &devala

Hotel Orphanage

Type of conservation

Perc

enta

ge RiverStreamLakeOther

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not provide desired wage for mahouts, because these mahouts are coming from generations and temples and devalas give lands for those mahouts on behalf of wage. Instead they are asked to find work and earn money. Elephant owners give high wage rate to mahouts otherwise opportunity cost of being mahout is high. Wage rate is a sensitive factor, because most of the mahouts receive low income, which is not enough to cover cost of living. Consequently, they live below the poverty line. In addition to that social level of being mahout is low, so the perception management is needed to improve the social status of mahouts. This can be done by giving them a uniform and a higher salary or simply by changing the name of the job.

Figure 9. Mahout wages

Purpose of rearing captive elephants

Mixed use strategies, allowing for one or more purposes will yield positive impact of domestication of elephants. So that most of the elephants rear in home garden (43%) for social prestige and they keep elephants as symbol of their wealth (Figure 10). In addition to that, some elephant owners (21.62%) keep elephants for logging and tourism activities. Most of devalas and temples rear elephants to use in pageants. Number of elephants in procession is declining with time. As a result attractiveness of that processions get reduces and most of the temples and devalas want to rear more number of elephants. The new trend of captive elephant rearing is, use these elephants for tourism activities. Setting up eco-tourism projects could be a source of income for farmers during the dry season. Hotels and orphanage earn more revenue directly and indirectly due to rear elephants. The elephants in orphanage are going to train for procession like cultural activities and they are very concerned about the well being of our animals and that is the reason why they will not sell elephants to the private owners. Tourism profits were not the main goal to start the safaris. The general idea was to safe the domestic elephants that had been used in the logging industry. In fact most elephant owners did not have enough money to take good care for their elephants.

Percentage based on type of conservation

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Homegarden

Temple &devala

Hotel Orphanage

Type of conservation

Perc

enta

ge

6000

124

Figure 10. Purpose of rearing captive elephants

Revenue and costs

The economic justification for rearing captive elephants can be found by considering revenue and costs. In Orphanage and hotels revenue exceeds the costs thus hotels and Pinnawala elephant orphanage enjoy profits by rearing captive elephants (Figure 11). Orphanage possesses seventy captive elephants and it is the only place in the world where people can see such a large herd of captive elephants. As a result most of foreigners as well as local people visit the Pinnawala elephant orphanage to get an experience from this rare occasion and most of them prefer to see feeding on baby elephants and bathing of elephants. In orphanage huge amount of income comes from the entrance fee. The price of ticket of adult foreigner is Rs.500, child is Rs.250, local adult is Rs.50 and from local child is Rs.25. In order to bring video cameras they pay Rs.500-1500. During season, about 500 foreigners and about 500 local people visit this place daily. In addition to that earnings10% of the total annual income of the Maximus shop goes to Pinnawala. Medical costs, feeding and other management, without the salaries, is between Rs.50 and 75 thousand a day. Hotels organize some elephant related activities such as elephant rides, safaris, processions, mock war, etc and they pay Rs.400 from foreign and Rs.50 from local person. In addition to elephant related activities they practice some other income related activities which gain profit for the hotel. Temples and devalas received least income due to keep elephants. Most of the temples and devalas and some of people who rear elephants did not use elephants to earn profit. Because those people keep elephants for prestige and temples and devalas keep elephants to participate ceremonies. In addition to that, people participate their elephants to participate ceremonies, however do not obtain income from those activities. Also some people possess vehicles to transport their elephants. As a result, maintaining cost of elephants is high.

Percentage based on type of conservation

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Home garden Temple &devala

Hotel Orphanage

Type of conservation

Perc

enta

ge

TourismPrestigeCeremoniesIncomeOther

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The temple of the tooth relic used to have 100 elephants. However they are becoming old (60% is older than 50). As a result temples need more elephants. Specially, during July to September most of temples in Sri Lanka held processions and elephants are used to decorate them. As a result during that period temples suffer lack of elephants.

In Sri Lanka, company started called Maximus produce recyclable paper using elephant dung. One elephant produce around 80kg dung a day and with 10kg dung can produce 120 sheets of rough paper equal to 720 A4 size sheets. Thereby it gives economic values to elephants dung and creates more awareness for elephant protection. In future they expect to collect elephant dung form areas where people suffer from human elephant conflict. This will create positive intention on elephant conservation among the people suffered human elephant conflict. The annual turnover of the Maximus is around US$ 250,000 and it will contribute to national income of the Sri Lanka.

A captured elephants costs now around 2 million rupees and a tusker between 4 and 5 million. There is a huge demand for captured elephants and are very difficult to get, because the owners do not want to sell their elephants and it is not allowed by DWLC to capture more elephants from the wild. In 1985 the Captive Elephants Owners Association (CEOA) was founded and there has been a demonstration against the governmental policies to get more elephants to the private owners. The CEOA wanted the possibility for the owners to buy elephants from the Pinnawela elephant orphanage, captured from the wild, or otherwise imported elephants.

Figure 11. Revenue and costs

Revenue and Cost

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

Homegarden

Temple &devala

Hotel Orphanage

Type of captive elephant conservation

Rup

ees

Average costAverage revenue

126

Importance in captive elephant conservation in Sri Lanka

Table 1. Significance of captive elephants in Sri Lanka

0=not significant 1=low 2= moderate 3= relatively high

A highest total mark is given for elephants keep in homegarden and it is followed by the elephants keep in Pinnawala elephant orphanage (Table 1).

Elephants in home garden are mostly used for religious activities and also for logging, elephant safaris and rides like income generating activities. As a result, owner receives somewhat high income from the elephants. Most of the elephants in Pinnawala elephant orphanage frequently use for educational and research activities, income generating activities like tourism. In addition to that the elephant dung in orphanage is used as fertilizer for the coconut palms, banana and rubber trees. The orphanage possible attractions could be elephant watching, and specially on feeding of baby elephants and everyone wants to feed them. For entertainment, elephant watching works already very well. Elephants in hotels create lot of money for the owners; however they pay less for mahouts. Mainly these elephants are used for tourism activities and rarely use for educational and research activities. Temples and devalas use these elephants mainly for religious activities and rarely use for educational, tourism like activities. Temples and devalas do not use these elephants to generate income. Problems associated with captive elephant rearing

Both elephant owners and mahouts face a number of problems, when keeping and handling elephants. When handle some elephants, there are some incidences that some the mahouts and indigenous veterinary doctors were killed when elephant becomes musth. During this time elephants damage to the properties of other people and owners have to bear financial compensation for damages. As a result of reduction of forest coverage, finding of feeds for elephants were much more difficult. Since elephant is a large mammal, should give large dosage of medicines compared with other animals which is much expensive for elephant owners they need large water bodies to bath. Therefore, finding of bathing place during drought period and rainy period is a much more difficult. Indigenous veterinary practices are shared by all among captive elephants, nevertheless finding of veterinary practices become difficult among elephant owners. Some mahouts who handle elephants in temple and devala do not receive wage from the owners consequently mahouts attempt to get more

Economics Keeping

system Owners Mahouts

Religion

Social

Urban

tourism

Education Ecology

forestry

Total

Temple 2 1 3 0 1 0 7

Homegarden 3 1 3 2 1 2 12

Hotel 3 1 1 3 1 1 10

Orphanage 3 2 0 3 3 0 11

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works from the elephants. Some people give liqueur to mahouts and endeavor to get more work from elephants, which exceed their carrying capacity. This will result early death among captive elephants. Some mahouts put less care on elephants and mistreat the elephants that lead to early deaths among captive elephants. With the popularization machinery, the number of work available per elephant declined with time and owners receive lower income and keeping an elephant become much more difficult. Although Pinnawala elephant orphanage is a better place for elephants, number of mahouts in this place is very low and elephants do not receive required degree of care and attention from the mahouts. DWC wants to register every elephant owner for Rs.500; however owners will get nothing in return. For killing an elephants have to pay Rs.5000 and most of the time murders are set free without charge. As a result, elephant owners do not register in DWC.

CONCLUSION

This study aimed at investigating the economic and social aspects of captive elephant rearing as measures of conservations of elephants in Sri Lanka. The following conclusions can be generated according to the results of the study.

Rearing of elephants in homegarden and temple and devala, face a number of problems such as finding of feeds, finding of mahouts, high maintenance cost, difficulties in finding of water during drought and difficulties in finding good quality water during rain and mahouts are less care and mistreat the elephants, etc. Nevertheless, they prefer to rear one more elephants with the intention of social prestige and to use for ceremonies.

As stated in results and discussion, still there are ample amounts of feeds

available throughout the captive elephant conservation areas. The average income of mahout range between Rs. 3000.00 7000.00 which is not adequate. Hotels and orphanage enjoying profit. The annual profit of the orphanage is about 5 million, while hotels gain Rs. 80,000.00 annually from an elephant. Orphanage spends Rs.3, 64,285.00 annually for feeds of an elephant and spends highest feed cost per elephant. People who rear elephants in homegarden spend remarkably highest cost on veterinary practices of an elephant (Rs.28, 052) As indicated in problem justification, captive elephant conservation methods should be economically sound However with the mechanization, the elephant gets less draft work thus captive elephants become wild elephants. Consequently, since hotels enjoying with profit, can recommend rearing elephants in hotels, which has high demand for elephant safaris, rides, etc.

The captive elephants in orphanage are not tamed. As a result, people unable to move closer to elephants. Therefore, tamed captive elephants can be used establish an elephant park, which is economically sound. A park could create awareness of both tourists and local community, creating income possibilies for community, mitigating human elephant conflicts in the short term and contribute to the conservation. Establishing an elephant park is win win situation for both elephant owners and people who take pleasure from elephant related activities.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Dr. L.H.P.Gunaratne, Senior Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Economics and Business Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, for his valuable advises, encouraging guidance and persistent throughout this study.

REFERENCES

Chadwick, D.H. (1991). Elephants Out of time and space: National Geographic. Quoted in T.N.Samarasinghe. An economic assessment of damage caused by the wild elephants in villages around Ritigala strict nature reserves. B.Sc.thesis, University of Peradeniya, 2000.

Eltringham, S.K.(1992). The Return of the illustrated Encyclopedia of elephants. Tiger paper.

Quoted in T.N.Samarasinghe. An economic assessment of damage caused by the wild elephants in villages around Ritigala strict nature reserves. B.Sc.thesis, University of Peradeniya, 2000.

Gokula, V. and Vardharajan, M. (1996). Status of temple elephant management in Tamil Nadu,

Southern India.Gajah15:37-40. Jayewardene, J. (1998). Captive elephants in Sri Lanka: status, distribution and numbers. Nature

4:13-18. Kurt, F. and Maze, K.U. 2003.Guidlines for the management of captive Asian elephants and the

possible role of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group. Gajah22:30-41. Lair,R.C. (1997). The care and management of the Asian elephant in domesticity. Rome: FAO,

1997. Thailand. Williams, A.C. and Jahnsingh, A.J.T. 1996. Elephant capture in Meghalaya, Northeast India- the

past and the future. Gajah17:1-5. The care and management of domesticated Asian elephants in Sri Lanka[on line]. Thailand:

Jayantha Jayawrdena, 2001[cited 16 December 2004]. Available from internet http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/AD031E/ado31eov.htm

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ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY TO CONSERVE THE

ENDANGERED ELEPHANTS IN SRI LANKA

K.A.D.K.S.D. BANDARA* and L.H.P. GUNARATNE

Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya

ABSTRACT

The Sri Lankan elephant population shows a marked reduction during last five decades, mainly due to destruction of elephant habitats by development projects and illegal encroachments. With the limitations of the lands available for elephants and escalating human-elephant conflicts, domestication of the elephants appear to one of the viable way of conserving elephants. However, with the low demand for draft, domestication of elephants should be targeted on more economically attractive options such as tourism.

With this background, the economic potential of utilization of elephants in tourism industry is investigated in this study. The degree of interest on elephant related activities by the tourists, and the status of involvement of tourist hotels and guest houses in those activities are also evaluated. The potential of generating revenue via the integration of the elephants to the sector was also considered.

The necessary information for the study was collected through two surveys carried out simultaneously during the period of January to February 2005. One survey was carried out targeting the tourists that come to see the elephants, based on a structured questionnaire prepared in English, French and Japanese. The random intercept sampling method was used. Meantime, a mailed survey was executed focusing the tourist hotels and guest houses. Tourist hotels, guest houses within 40-km boundary of parks, protected areas and orphanage were selected to the sample.

The descriptive statistical analysis revealed that, about 8% of the sampled tourists have selected the Sri Lanka as their tours destination mainly to see the elephants while around 20% tourists arrive to Sri Lanka with an intention of watching elephants. The study revealed that more than 80% tourists like to experience the elephant rides whereas more than 60% tourists prefer experience on the elephant safaris. The average willingness to pay for these activities are 20 US$ and 28 US$ respectively.

The survey carried out with the managers shows that more than 70 % of hotels and accommodations that are located vicinity of the parks have involved in any kind of elephant related activities as keeping elephants for tourism, promotion of elephant related activities and facilitating elephant watching.

Study found that there is a substantial potential in exploit elephants in tourism industry, which will generate more income to the elephant owners thus domestication can be used as one of the means of conservation of endangered elephants in Sri Lanka.

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INTRODUCTION

The Elephas maximus maximus in Sri Lanka is the type specimen of Linnaeus (Crusz, 1986). Shotake et al. (1986) showed that it is genetically quite distinct from the Indian sub species Elephas maximus ibengalensis. The elephants have been influencing Sri Lankan socio-cultural environment since the ancient time. There is an enormous cultural and religious significance of elephant to the both Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka.

Status of elephants in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan elephant population has undergone a marked reduction from the mid nineteen century (Santiapillai and Jackson, 1990; De Silva, 1998). Fragmentation and loss of habitats are the factors contributing to this decline and this lead to human elephant conflict (Desai, 1998). Also this situation largely results from the ad-hoc development projects carried out during the last five decades (Weerakoon, 1999) and is exacerbated by the lack of coordination between different government departments and wildlife authorities. Moreover poor integration of economic aspects and lack of attention to public preferences for elephant conservation compound the problem. The elephant has been protected in Sri Lanka since 12th century A.D. (Wicramasinghe, 1928). Nevertheless, large numbers were captured to be used as war elephants or for export to other countries. The systematic slaughter of elephants in general and of tuskers in particular began with the arrival of the colonial powers and the introduction of firearms. The situation was exploited to such an extent that a government ordinance in 1891 banned the wanton destruction of elephants (Olivier, 1978). The animal was given full legal protection in 1937. But today only about six percent of the males have tusks in Sri Lanka, in contrast to southern India, where 90% of the bulls are tuskers (Sukumar, 1986). If this trend exists the Sri Lankan elephant population will extinct from earth for ever within one or two decades. Conservation efforts At present, there is a growing concern over conservation of Sri Lankan elephant by various government organizations and non-government organizations. Some of these measures adopted are: establishment of new national parks and protected areas, establishment of elephant corridors, habitat enrichment, translocation of elephants and elephant drives, electric fencing and promoting ex-situ conservation. The decline of the Sri Lankan elephant population has been largely results of lacking socio-economic and political considerations. Therefore it is important that its management and conservation should take in to account, the social and economic value of its existence. According to Santiapillai. (1997) and Dublin,(1997) the key to finding out a long term solution to the human elephant conflict in Sri Lanka is two fold. To

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encourage the adoption land-use strategies (such as selective timber extraction, controlled livestock grazing) that are compatible with elephant conservation, and where elephants and humans do overlap, that people derive tangible benefits from their presence (such as eco-tourism). This study has focused towards the assessing of potential economic benefits that can be taken via tourism industry to conserve the endangered elephant in Sri Lanka. Moreover, whether conservation is capable with the incorporation of elephants to the tourism industry. Tourism Tourism is one of the world largest and fast growing industries. According to the recent statistics tourism provide 10% of the worlds income and employs one tenth of the world work force. It contributes 6% of the global GNP and 13% of consumptive expenditure. In Sri Lanka, tourism has become a very important factor in foreign exchange earning. Gross earnings from the tourist industry increased by 39 percent in 2003, from US dollars 248 million in 2002 to US dollars 324 million in 2003. (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2003).Tourism has been significant in the case of many aspects, a very tangible element which can use for conservational activities. Tourism play a key role in economic and social benefits like attracting foreign currency, more funds for the conservation, improve world understanding .etc. Huge number of tourists arrives per year to Sri Lanka. Table 1 show the number of tourists arrived in last two years.

Table 1. Tourists arrival by region

Tourism industry involves various stakeholders in addition to the tourists such as accommodation establishments and restaurants owners, travel agents, tour operators. Table 2 shows the income distribution among various stakeholders. Table 2. Revenue from the tourism- 1993 to 2002 (In Rs. Million) Source: CTB publication, 2003

Source of Revenue 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Hotels & Restaurants 79.5 59.6 116.0 143.6 164.5 162.7 128.4 149.7 Travel Agencies 28.0 26.4 39.1 58.8 67.3 61.7 52.6 64.5 Shops 10.8 9.3 12.1 14.4 16.5 15.1 13.9 14.8

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Embarkation Tax 201.6 151.1 183.1 190.5 218.2 200.2 269.3 393.2 Cultural Triangle 168.7 121.2 186.0 225.0 300.5 276.0 222.0 242.8 Botanical Gardens 25.2 16.8 21.8 26.7 32.6 29.4 21.2 26.3 Zoological Gardens 11.4 14.4 15.1 18.9 23.1 29.2 22.3 30.2 National Parks 38.5 27.8 34.5 41.2 56.0 60.2 54.4 58.0 Museums 1.2 0.6 0.7 0.1 0.9 0.5 0.6 0.8 TOTAL 564.9 427.2 608.4 719.8 879.6 835.0 784.7 977.8

This study is mainly focused towards assessing the potential contribution of accommodation establishments (tourist hotels and guest houses) and restaurants in addition to the tourists. The hotels and travel agencies earn large portion of revenue as shown in table 3. Table 3. Foreign exchange earnings form tourism -2001 & 2002 (In Rs mill)

* Revised ** Provisional

Tourism as a mean of elephant conservation The Sri Lankan elephant population is being declined in a crucial rate. Therefore, conserving of this unique sub species of Asian elephant is of paramount importance in substantiation of economical, social and cultural benefits due to its existence in the long term.

Domestication of elephants especially to the tourism industry is considered as a one of the solution to conserve elephants, which again promote the long term coexistence of human and elephants. Per year about 500,000 of tourists arrive to Sri Lanka and many of tourists visit wildlife parks to observe the elephants in the wild. Also the captive elephants in tourist hotels used for tourists attractions as elephant rides thus generating huge amount of money. The accommodation establishments situated near the park generate revenue via supplying foods, lodging and other facilities to the tourists who come visit the parks. In this sense, tourism can perform a major role in conserving elephants. Though tourism has that much significance for elephants conservation, its potential should be examined economically. Therefore, investigation of economic potential of tourism industry to conserve the endangered elephants is very important as a prior task.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the economic potential of tourism industry for using in elephant conservation in Sri Lanka. The willing to pay for various elephant related experiences by tourists and those factors influencing their willingness to pay is also found. In addition, the ways and means by which tourist hotel owners contribute to conserve the elephants is also investigated.

Source 2001 * 2002 ** Banks 6,718.1 8,523.3 Travel Agencies 4,026.0 5,146.5 Shops 4,379.4 5,615.2 Hotels 2,614.4 3,386.4 Others 1,125.4 1,530.6 TOTAL 18,863.3 24,202.0

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METHODOLOGY

Both primary data and secondary data were used in this study. Primary

data was collected during the period of January 2005 to March 2005. Adopted methodologies for the process of data collection were mainly questionnaire surveys, literature review and informal discussions with key informants. Relevant articles in journals and magazines as well as the research publications were reviewed to obtain additional information. Data collection

Two parallel surveys were conducted incorporating the tourists and managers/owners of tourist hotels, guest houses and accommodations. The field survey of tourists

The relevant data to the study were collected by interviewing the tourists using a structured questionnaire. The interviewing of tourists was done so as to represent a group of tourists by several individuals of that group. The questionnaire was comprised of three sections. They were arranged to get the personal information, general information of visit to Sri Lanka and their responses on experienced elephant related activities with preferences. The questionnaire was prepared in English and translated into French and Japanese in order to collect data from the non-English speaking tourists. Total of 120 questionnaires were used for the survey and 70 of them were in English. The number of French and Japanese were 30 and 20 respectively. Pre testing was carried out prior to commence of the field survey.

The target population was the tourists who visit the nature sites. Therefore a sample of tourists was interviewed using the questionnaires at Uda Walawa, Wasgamuwa, Minneriya, Bundala, Yala and Pinnawala where major portion of tourists come to see the elephants.

Mail survey of managers of the hotels, guest houses and accommodations

In this part of the study, it is assumed that the tourists who are interested in elephants arrive the areas closer to the wildlife parks and the orphanage. Therefore, initially the parks and protected areas where the elephants are present were found. Then the area within a boundary of 40 km around the parks and protected areas were chosen was for the study.

The hotels, guest houses and accommodations were selected using the list of Accommodation Guide published by the Ceylon Tourist Board which was updated in November-December, 2004. The relevant data to the study from managers of the relevant establishments was collected using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaires were mailed with the cover letters to the managers of the hotels, guest houses and accommodations and follow up telephone calls were given, increase the response rate. Meantime, some of the establishment were visited and directly interviewed the managers.

The questionnaire was prepared in English which was comprised of three sections, section 1 was prepared to get the general information of the

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establishments. The section 2 was included to get the elephant related activities, which they have involved. The section 3 was used to the information about their involvement to conserve endangered elephants.

The necessary secondary information was collected from the publications of several institutions and their web sites such as Ceylon Tourist Board, Sri Lanka Hotel Corporation, Institute of Policy Studies and Central Bank. Some information as list of tourist hotels, guest houses and accommodations, number of tourists arrived in past few years, revenue earn by the tourism industry in relation to each year national income, amount of revenue earn by each stakeholder in the tourism sector were collected from these sources. Analytical framework

Most of the data were collected through the survey of tourists and managers of accommodation establishments, which can use to assess the interest on elephants as well as elephant related activities. Therefore both descriptive data analysis and regression analysis were employed.

Assuming a linear relationship between willingness to pay for the elephant related activities and other independent variables, the regression model was fitted to estimate the relationship between selected attributes and the willingness to pay amount. Conceptual model WTP= (NAT, AGE, DAYS, INC, EDU, SEX, EXP, ACT, INV) WTP=Willingness to pay for the elephant related activities (Rs)

Variable Hypothesis DAYS=Days stay in Sri

Lanka Expected relationship is the tourists who stay longer period experienced such activities and willing to pay more.

AGE=Age (Years) Young people are more interested on elephants and elephants related activities. Therefore they like to pay more.

EDU=Educational level Educated people are expected to be more towards enjoying the elephants related activities which are nature based activities. INV=Whether experienced

such type of activities Experience tourists expected to be spend more on that activities.

NAT=Nationality

Developed nations have already deteriorated their nature and biodiversity when achieve the development. Therefore they like to pay more for these activities. Per capita income of each country used as an indicator of level of development

SEX=Sex Males are more prefer that activities. EXP=Expected daily

Expenditure in Sri Lanka

High expending people expected to be having high willingness to pay.

INC=Annual income Higher income visitor are expected to be spend more money. ACT=Number of elephant

related activities like to experience

More interested tourists on like to experience more number of activities.

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Visitor characteristics

Based on the sample survey, it was found that the average age of the

tourists who came to see the elephants is 56 years with the range of 21 to 77 years. The average number of days stayed in Sri Lanka is 15 days, with a maximum of 30 days and a minimum of 6 days. The respondents average annual income of the sampled tourists is 36,954 US $. The random intercept survey is comprised of 16 different nations. Their distribution is given in the table 4.

Table 4. Nationality distribution of the sample

Nationality Number of Tourists %

British 36 36 %

Irish 4 4 %

Australian 2 2 %

Finland 1 1 %

Danish 1 1 %

Italian 1 1 %

Canadian 2 2 %

Dutch 4 4 %

Swiss 3 3 %

American 7 7 %

German 8 8 %

New Zealand 4 4 %

Poland 4 4 %

Franchise 9 9 %

Swedish 5 5 %

Japanese 7 7 %

Chinese 2 2 %

n = 100

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Status of education

Most of the tourists come to see the elephants are mid-career professionals who hold a degree and more than 75 % belong to those categories. More than 18% of visitors have completed secondary education. Almost all the respondent has at least primary education. It was noted that the tourists who have some kind of understanding and interest about environment visit these areas to see elephants.

Education Level Distribution :Tourists Sample

6%

18%

27%

48%

0%No formal edu.

No primary edu. 0% 1%

No formal education

Followed primaryeducationCompleted primaryeducationFollowed secondaryeducationCompleted secondaryeducationFollowed graduatestudiesA graduate degree

Figure 1. Status of education in tourists sample

Reason for selecting Sri Lanka as a travel destination

The question 1 of section B in the questionnaire of tourists was directed to get the most important reason when selecting Sri Lanka as a travel destination. Table 5 shows the details of the tourists responses. Table 5. Most important reason for selecting Sri Lanka as a travel destination

n = 87

Visiting friends and/or relatives 10% See the Sri Lankan elephants 19% Business/Convention 10% Sun and beaches 16% Archaeological sites 3% Cultural/Native history 6% Nature history 7% Sight seeing 28% 100%

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According to the responses, a major portion of tourists (28 %) indicated sight seeing as the most important reason when selecting Sri Lanka as a travel destination. In addition to that seeing elephants in Sri Lanka has a quite significant. Because 19 % of tourists have chosen Sri Lanka as a travel destination due to presence of elephants. Degree of Influence, presence of elephants in Sri Lanka to choose as a travel destination

Figure 2 shows the degree of importance of Sri Lankan elephants to the tourists when selecting Sri Lanka as their travel destination.

Figure 2. Degree of influence elephants to choose Sri Lanka as travel

This shows that main reason of 8 % of sample tourists is seeing the Sri Lankan elephants in journey to Sri Lanka, according to their responses. They might be the researchers or eco-tourists. Tourists involvement of nature related activities Table 6. Involvement of nature related activities by the tourists

n=91

As shown in the table 6 most of the tourists arrive to Sri Lanka had

opportunity to visit the cultural sites (70 %) also around 50 % of tourists involve in wildlife related activities as elephant safaris, deer safari etc.

Activity Number % Jungle excursion 44 48.4 Visiting cultural sites 64 70.3 Bird watching 29 31.9 Wildlife 45 49.5 Botany 31 34.1 Fishing 4 4.4 Visiting indigenous communities 7 7.7 Others 6 6.6

Influence of Sri Lankan Elephants to Choose Sri Lanka as a Traval Destination

Main reason 8%

Important46%Somewhat

important 25%

Not important21%

Main reason

Important

Somew hat important

Not important

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Experiences of elephant related activities: tourists

According to the responses of tourists, more than 80 % have an interest on experiencing the elephant rides. Also more than 60 % tourists like to experience the elephant safaris. The portion of tourists who have interest on elephant circuses, races etc are very low. In addition to this some of the tourists like to participate activities such as visit orphanage, looking at bathing of elephants, visit the temples which keeping elephants, hiking in the natural habitat of elephants. This portion of tourist is 11 %. The categorized responses are shown in table 7.

Table 7. Experiences of elephant related activities by tourists & their willingness to pay for them

Elephant ride Elephant safaris

Elephant circuses

Cultural events which use elephants

Elephant races Others

Percentage of tourists like to experiences

82% 66% 4% 7% 5% 11 %

Average willingness to pay in Rs

1942 2831 1341 1241 1921 1297

(20 US $) (28 US $) (13 US $) (12 US $) (19 US $) Willingness to pay for the elephant related activities: tourists

Survey respondents were asked to mention their willingness to pay (WTP) for the each elephants related activities they would like to experience. According to the responses of tourists, indicate in the table 7, average willingness to pay for the elephant ride is 20 US $ with minimum of 8 US $ and maximum of 51 US $. Also the amount willingness to pay for the elephants safaris is 28 US $ with minimum of 6 US $ and maximum of 50 US $.

Willingness to pay amount reflects the tourists valuation of the each elephant related activity. The amount of willingness to pay can be utilized to get an idea about the degree of significance each activity and potential of getting benefits economically through the tourism industry via the incorporation of elephant related activities to the schedules of tourist packages. Involvement of elephants related activities by tourists hotel, guest houses and accommodations. Nature related activities: tourist hotels, guest houses and accommodations According to the responses of managers of the tourist hotels, guest houses and accommodations the percentage of establishments that has involved in each activity is indicated in the table 8. Table 8. Nature related activities Practice by the tourist hotels, Guest houses & accommodations

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Nature related activity % of hotels & guest houses

Jungle excursions 40 %

Visiting cultural sites 65 % Bird watching 60 % Wildlife 70 %

Visiting botanical gardens 15 % Fishing 15 %

Visiting indigenous communities 5 % Others 10 %

n=32

As shown in that table 70 % of the ventures in the sample have involved in wildlife related activities. Among the establishments that has engaged in wild life related activities for earning revenue, a high number of the tourists hotel, guest houses and accommodations have involve in elephant related activities. (Figure 3)

Figure 3. Wildlife Related Activities Involve by the Tourist Hotels & Guest houses for the Tourism Elephant related activities of the tourist hotels, guest houses and accommodations

The involvement of these establishments on elephants related activities can be categorized in to 3 types as shown in the table 9. Table 9. Elephant related activities involved by hotels & guest houses

Wildlife Related Activities:Tourist hotels & Guesthouses

71 %

29 %

47 %

65 %

12 %

29 %

01020304050607080

Elephant related activitiesDeer safaris

Tour to game sanctuariesBird watching

Tours to national zoological garden

Others

% of Hotels & Guesthouses Involved

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a) Keeping Elephants for Tourism Activities (Exhibitions, circuses, riding, carry tourists etc.)

21 %

b) Promote Elephant Related Activities for Tourism (Safaris, tours, seeing perahara etc)

79 %

c) Facilitate Elephant Watching (Situated near parks, orphanages etc)

36 %

According to that more than 75 % of enterprises have involve in

promoting elephant related activities as safaris, arrange tours to orphanage and protected areasetc. Only 21 % hotels and guest houses keep elephants for tourism activities.

Also more than 35 % of accommodation establishments situated near the wildlife parks and orphanage, which facilitate watching the elephants. That kind of enterprises earns revenue by supplying accommodations and foods for the tourists. The hotels and accommodations keeping elephants have involved in various activities. Those activities can be categorized as in the table 10. Table 10. Various uses of elephant that are taken by the hotels & guesthouses, which are

keeping the captive elephants

Activity of Elephants use % of Hotels & Guest houses As an exhibit for tourists 40% Use for elephant rides 60% Use for elephant circuses 0% Use for cultural activities 40% Give for cultural activities in other places 40%

Use to get some works done 20% Conservation activities: tourist hotels and guesthouses

According to the responses of the managers, most of the tourist hotels and accommodations have involved in elephant conservation activities. That activities and the level of involvement are summarized in the table 11. This indicates that there is a potential to get participated the organizations that has not engaged in that kind of activities so far. Table 11. Participation in conservation activities of elephants by

Hotels & guest houses

Conservation activity % of Hotels & Guest houses Contribute to trust fund support for conservation 67%

Aid for the orphanage 13% Help for conservation campaigns 23%

Others 22%

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Estimates of the regression model

The factors influencing the expenditure by tourists for various elephant related activities were identified. The estimates of the multiple regression models are given in Table12. WTP= NAT +AGE + DAYS + INC + EDU + SEX + EXP + INV

Table 12. Estimates of the OLS regression model

Variable Coefficient Std. Error

Constant 13981Nationality - 0.16 17833Age - 85.2 39.45No. of days stay 0.003 0.224Annual income - 0.005 0.141Education 0.61 1356Sex 0.06 3883Expected expenditure 0.25 3309Number of activities like to experience - 0.008 9164Experienced with similar activities - 0.12 5317Adjusted R2 = 0.52

The model was free from perfect mulicollinearity with reasonably satisfactory fit (adjusted R2). Among the considered variables, nationality, days spend in the Sri Lanka, whether the tourists have experienced such activities and level of education were significant at 5 % level. National income was used as a proxy for the variable, nationality so that contrary to the expectation, tourist with high income countries are less interested in spending money on elephant reacted activities. However, tourists who had plans to stay more were found to be more enthusiastic in spending on similar activities. Also it was found that young are more willing to pay for these activities.

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CONCLUSION

The study aimed at getting an insight into the make use of elephants for tourism and identifying the future potential of this so as to promote tourism as an alternative mean of elephant conservation in Sri Lanka. The study was carried out with tourists who visit the national parks and the owners/managers of guest houses/hotels located closer to these sites. This study found that there is a substantial potential of incorporating elephants into the tourism industry, which will foster the coexistence of human and elephants as in the past.

This study revealed that there is a huge demand for the elephant related activities more than identified so far, such as elephant rides and safaris. The present rates charged for elephant related activities are much less than their willingness to pay for those activities. According to the findings, an average willingness to pay for the safaris and rides are approximately 20 and 28 US $, respectively. This shows the potential revenue that can earn through these activities.

It may cost 20,000-25,000 rupees per month to maintain a captive elephant. Given the substantial cost of maintaining a captive elephant and less demand for draft work, there is a need to find better alternatives; the study indicates that much more amount of revenue can be generated per month when the elephants are used for the tourism activities under well managed situation. The recent studies carried out by the Institute of Policy Studies has identified that the revenue from the protected areas could be increased significantly if the Ceylon Tourist Board (CTB), Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Forest Department assist the private sector to promote value added activities around protected areas. This would include hotels and tourist attractions such as elephant safaris. The findings of this study corroborate this fact by identifying the potentials in a scientific manner. The nature tourist market is a particularly attractive niche market as there is some evidence that nature tourist have higher incomes than the average tourist, stay longer and spend more on locally produced products and services (Vidanage, 1995). With the problems of the tourist industry due to the war, nature tourism represents a niche marketing, which can command a premium. Many private tour operators feel that nature tourism has considerable growth potential. Promotion of nature tourism would also accord with the three main objectives of the tourism Master Plan prepared by the Ceylon Tourist Board (CTB) of moving away from low budget mass beach tourism by selecting activities that upgrade existing attractions and product, diversify the product mix and its capacity and develop new circuits and product packages inland, including new tourist areas. The elephant related activities are in the category of existing tourists attractions. Therefore, the value of them in the sense nature related activities can be identified from this study and it is important to take an active role to promote elephant related activities with a good product mix to attract among the tourist who are the potential customers of them. This requires the Ceylon Tourist Board taking an active role in promoting elephant related activities.

On the other hand, with the limited carrying capacity of the protected areas and growth of the rural populations, the human elephant conflict will escalate in the future, so that there is a growing need to find feasible solutions. Therefore, use of elephants in the tourism industry by capturing and taming of young elephants can be considered as one of the counteractive measure. Then a mechanism could

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bedeveloped to transfer a part of the revenue generated from such activities to compensate the farmers to mitigate human elephant conflict, as a mean of conservation.

REFERENCES

Central bank of Sri Lanka. 2003. Annual report. Colombo. Central Bank. Daniel, J.C., 1993. The Asian elephant: future prospects. Gajah11:02-15. De Silva, M., 1998.Status and conservation of the elephant and the alleviation of man-elephant

conflict in Sri Lanka.Gajah 19:01-25. Gujarati, D.N. 1995. Basic Econometrics, 3rd ed. McGrow Hill Inc, New York. Gunatilaka, H.M. 2003. Environmental valuation; Theory and Application, PGIA. University of Peradeniya. Handavitharana, W., Dissanayaka, S., & Santiapillai, C. 1994. The survey of elephants in Sri

Lanka. Gujah. 12:1-13. Jayewardene, J. 2001. Biodiversity & elephant conservation trust Gujah 20:73-77. Krishantha, W.P. 2001.Comparative analysis of nature tourism and conventional tourism in Sri

Lanka. Project report. (B.Sc.). University of Peradeniya. Lair,R.C. 1997. The Care and management of the Asian elephant in domesticity. Rome: FAO,

1997. Thailand. Samarasinghe, T.N. 2000. An economic assessment of damage caused by the wild elephants in

villages around Ritigala strict nature reserves. Project report. (B.Sc.)., University of Peradeniya.

Steel, P. and Siva Kumar, M.. 1998. A strategy for nature tourism management in Sri Lanka.

Colombo. Institute of Policy Studies. Tourism and the Economy of Sri Lanka. Economic Review (peoples Bank), 1994. 20(5):2-13. Vidanage, S.P.1995. Potentials and factors affecting ecotourism in Sri Lanka., Practicum

report. (M.Sc.).PGIA. University of Peradeniya. Wicramasinghe, W.M.D.T.2002. Promotion of ecotourism in Upper Hantana mountain range., Kandy., Practicum report.(M.Sc.).PGIA. U

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STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF VEGETATION IN THE IFS -POPHAM ARBORETUM, DAMBULLA

M.A.A.B. DILHAN*, T.D. WEERASINGHE and J. AMARASINGHE

IFS - Popham Arboretum, Dambulla

ABSTRACT

The Dambulla Arboretum is a unique place, where a wasteland has been converted into a sanctuary of tropical trees by using a simple silvicultural method. The Arboretum consists of 3.6 ha arboretum along with a 10.8 ha woodland. The goal of the present survey was to document the abundance of dry zone key plant species and to update the checklist of plants in terms of seasons.

The abundance of plant species, which were naturally regenerated, was enumerated in six 20 m 20 m experimental plots. The girth at breast height (gbh) of individuals over 10 cm was measured within main plots, while individuals below 10 cm gbh were counted in 20 m 10 m sub plots within the main plots. Five random plots 2 m 2 m quadrates were used to measure the cover value of ground vegetation. In addition, annuals and biannual during the wet and dry season and undocumented perennials were encountered in an ad hoc manner addition to the experimental plots.

A total of 101 plant species belonging to 91 genera and 42 families were identified. Among the taxa identified 45 had medicinal value, 14 timber value and 7 both timber and medicinal value. There were 45 tree spp., 27 shrub spp., 18 herbaceous spp. and 11 climber spp. Of them five were endemic viz., Diospyros oppositifolia, Diplodiscus verrucosus, Canarium zeylanicum, Cassine balae and Micromelum minutum. The leading dominant species and families based on important value index (IVI) were Syzygium cumini and Myrtaceae (IVI = 29 & 32), Grewia damine and Tiliaceae (IVI = 23 & 28) and Memecylon umbellatum and Rubiaceae (IVI = 16 & 25) respectively.

In the ordination diagram, the plots in the arboretum and woodland are clearly separated by four distinguishable clusters and were assigned into plant communities. The species associated with cluster A were mainly trees viz., Diplodiscus verrucosus, Diospyros ferrea, Lepisanthes tetraphylla and Sapindus emarginata along with a shrub. While Cluster C resulted in five tree species. The survey has shown that the arboretum provides refugee to many valuable timber trees, including endemic and endangered plant species. INTRODUCTION

The dry zone forests of Sri Lanka have experienced a boost in large-scale depletion of forest land by slash and burn agriculture, illegal felling, fire, irrigation schemes and agricultural expansion resulting from a growing population (Samarasinghe, 1995). As a remedy reforestation and conservation have been carried out by the Forest Department on degraded lands of the dry zone. Mr. F. H. Popham introduced a sustainable silvicultural method namely the Popham method (Popham, 1993), which facilitates the natural regeneration of indigenous species. This leads to succession towards woodlands dominated by small trees and bushes managing the growth of creepers and thorny shrubs.

The IFS - Popham Arboretum in Dambulla is a typical example of natural regenerated forest. It has also contributed to rich biodiversity comprising 192 plant species (Cramer, 1993), 72 birds and 35 butterflies (Arboretum Newsletter, 1996). Research into the regeneration dynamics of silvicultural assisted scrub vegetation (Samarasinghe, 1995) in relation to different burning histories and regeneration strategies of selected forest species (Weerawardane, 1999) has been carried out during the past decade. The goals of this study are to document plant

145

diversity of silviculturally treated vegetation in the IFS-Popham Arboretum and to update the checklist of plant species documented by Cramer (1993).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The IFS - Popham Arboretum is located close to Dambulla, 2.9 km away

from it on the Kandalama Dambulla road (Figure 1). The total extent of the IFS - Popham arboretum, is 14.4 ha comprising 3.6 ha in the arboretum and 10.8 ha of woodland (70 51 34" N and 800 40 28" E).

The permanent plot method was used for sampling in this study. Six plots,

each 20 m 20 m were demarcated within the woodland and arboretum. Three plots each from the woodland and arboretum were selected and each plot was divided into 20 m 10 m sub plots to facilitate sampling. Individuals over 10 cm girth at breast height (1.3 m above the ground) in the main plots (20 m 20 m) were enumerated and were marked with numbered aluminum tags. Sub plots of size 20 m 10 m were demarcated within the main plot to enumerate individuals

Figure 1. Location of the IFS - Popham Arboretum. Colored circles indicate the sampling Plots. Plots in the arboretum = AR; and woodland = WL.

AR1

AR2 AR3

WL1

WL2

WL3

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below 10 cm gbh and above 1 m in height. Individuals less than 1 m in height were enumerated by 2 m 2 m quadrate sampling.

A number of characteristics of the vegetation, viz., density and gbh of all woody species were recorded. The Importance Value Indices (IVI) of all the species were calculated using relative basal area and relative density for individuals over 1 m in height. Relative cover value was used for individuals less than 1 m in height.

The flora of the arboretum documented by Cramer (1993) was revised by collecting plants in an ad hoc manner representing all vegetation types and microhabitats during the dry and wet season as shown in appendix 1.

Herbarium specimens were prepared from the plant material collected in the field. Each individual sampled was identified as to its species as far as possible with help from the National Herbarium, Peradeniya, use of the Hand Book to the Flora of Ceylon by Dassanayake and Fosberg (1990-1991), Dassanayake et al. (1994-1995) and Dassanayake and Clayton (1996-2000).

An ordination of the vegetation gradients in the dataset that could be compared against their spatial distribution on the ground was carried out using multivariate analysis (Detrended Correspondence Analysis) with the help of PCORD4 software.

RESULTS

STRUCTURE OF VEGETATION

The density, over 1 m height and basal area greater than 10 cm gbh, of

trees and shrubs in the arboretum are shown in Table 1. The total density of individuals was 2208/ha and the basal area was 93.2

m2/ha. However, the density and basal area of twenty leading tree and shrub species were 1795/ha and 74.8 m2/ha respectively.

The highest density of trees was recorded in Grewia damine and followed by Diospyros ferrea, Pterospermum suberifolium and Chloroxylon swietenia etc. The highest contribution of basal area was recorded of Syzygium cumini followed by G. Damine and Mitragyna parvifolia etc. Memecylon umbellatum showed the highest density and basal area and Phyllanthus polyphyllus and Allophylus serratus followed respectively.

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Table 1. List of first ten leading tree and shrub species represented in the vegetation size

class above 10 cm gbh with their basal areas, density and IVI values.

Tree speciesSyzygium cumini 29 24.90 4.36 46 0.51Grewia damine 23 13.11 0.23 192 0.20 Chloroxylon swietenia 14 8.30 0.34 113 0.81Mitragyna parvifolia 11 9.14 3.31 25 0.03Pterospermum suberifolium 9 3.44 0.17 117 1.28 Diospyros ferrea 8 2.20 0.09 129 0.42Bauhinia racemosa 7 4.05 0.31 50 0.23Diplodiscus verrucosus 6 2.20 0.13 88 0.71Lepisanthes tetraphylla 5 1.41 0.05 83 0.62Pleurostylia opposita 5 0.70 0.05 92 1.85Total 69.45 2.65 935 41.35

Shrub speciesMemecylon umbellatum 16 1.51 0.01 321 3.0 Phyllanthus polyphyllus 8 0.89 0.03 163 2.62Allophylus serratus 6 0.88 0.03 108 1.22Flueggea leucopyrus 5 0.76 0.01 96 0.73Eugenia bracteata 3 0.34 0.02 54 0.60Ochna obtusata 2 0.03 0.00 54 1.82 Dichrostachys cinerea 1 0.45 0.05 17 0.06Catunaregam spinosa 1 0.25 0.05 17 0.12Flacourtia indica 1 0.18 0.02 13 0.07Capparis brevispina 1 0.09 0.03 17 0.58Total 5.38 1.62 860 26.32

Species IVI Value BA m2/ha Den/ha

Girth class distribution in relation to percentage individuals are given in

Figure 2. The girth size class 10- 20 showed the highest number of species along with the highest species richness. Species richness of first and third gbh size class is more or less similar, while the proportion of individuals is quite high in the gbh size class 20-30.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 - 1

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> 50

Girth size class distribution (cm)

% in

divi

dual

s in

diff

eren

t girt

h cl

asse

s

(17)

(34)

(18)

(8) (9) (11)

Total individuals above 1m height 93.2 2208Total twenty dominant species 74.8 1795

148

Figure 2. Girth class distribution of individuals greater than 10 cm gbh (trees and shrubs) in the Popham Arboretum in Dambulla. The number of species that were present in each size class is given in parentheses.

FLORISTIC COMPOSITION OF VEGETATION

A total of 101 species belonging to 91 genera and 42 families were

identified. Among the taxa identified 45 had medicinal value, 14 timber value and 7 both timber and medicinal value. There were 45 tree spp., 27 shrub spp., 18 herbaceous spp. and 11 climber spp. comprising 5 endemics (Diospyros oppositifolia, Diplodiscus verrucosus, Canarium zeylanicum, Cassine balae and Micromelum minutum) were recorded. Species and family dominance

On the basis of IVI values, the leading dominant in the vegetation size class >10 cm gbh were S. cumini, G. damine and M. umbellatum etc (Figure 3). The contribution of basal area and density of those species showed alternative variation. Compared to basal area density of constitute species showed more or less similar among the leading species.

Figure 3. Variation in IVI values of the first ten leading species in Popham Arboretum in Dambulla.

The most dominant family based on IVI value was Myrtaceae followed by Tiliaceae and Rubiaceae. However the two leading families constitute only two species, while Rutaceae, Fabaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Rubiaceae contribute higher species richness (Figure 4).

0

5

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30

35

S. c

umin

i

G. d

amin

e

M. u

mbe

llatu

m

C. s

wie

teni

a

M.

parv

ifolia

P. su

beri

foliu

m

P. p

olyp

hyllu

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erre

a

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acem

osa

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A. se

rrat

us

L. te

trap

hylla

F. l

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ita

I. p

avet

ta

V. a

ltiss

ima

% Relative Basal % Relative Density

Plant species

Perc

ent

IVI

Val

ue

0

10

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Myr

tace

ae

Tilia

ceae

Rub

iace

ae

Rut

acea

e

Euph

orbi

acea

e

Mel

asto

mat

acea

e

Faba

ceae

Sapi

ndac

eae

Eben

acea

e

Ster

culia

ceae

% Relative Density % Relative Basal area

Family

Perc

ent

IVI

Val

ue (2)

(2)

(5) (7) (6)

(1) (6) (3)(4)

(1)

149

Figure 4. Variation in IVI values of the first ten leading families in Popham Arboretum in Dambulla. Number of species in a given family is given in parenthesis.

POPULATION SIZE

Considering the population size classes, species richness was high in the vegetation size class over 10 cm gbh (Figure 5). The population between 2 -10 recorded the highest number of species for both vegetation size classes.

Figure 5. Number of species in each of the population size classes in the vegetation of the Popham Arboretum in Dambulla.

TRENDS AND RELATIONSHIPS

Figure 6 gives the species association in terms of their occurrence in the arboretum and woodland. Cluster A and B associated with nine species including one species of borderline negative (Meum), while cluster C and D associated with eleven species including one species of borderline positive (Phpo). In the TWINSPAN diagram WL3 and WL1 formed a single distinguishable cluster, while AR1, AR2 and AR3 formed a single distinguishable cluster along with WL1 cluster. Therefore, species very common to both arboretum and woodland occur at the WL1 plot.

No.

of s

peci

es in

eac

h si

ze c

lass

es

Vegetation > 10 cm gbh Vegetation < 10 cm gbh

0

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1 on

ly

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Population size classes

150

MeumDive Dife

Grda

Flle

Alse

Lete

Phpo

Ptsu

Chsw

IxpaPlop

Saem

Bara

EubrSycu

Bema

OcobCadi

Stnu

AR1

AR2

AR3

WD3

WL1

WL2

Cluster A was composed of four typical dry zone tree species such as D. verrucosus, D. Ferrea, L. tetraphylla and S. emarginata with typical shrub viz., A. serratus. All species associated in cluster C (Plots of AR1 and AR2) were trees such as C. swietenia, P. opposita, S. nux-vomica, Bauhinia racemosa and Ixora pavetta. Cluster D were associated with mostly shrub species such as P. Polyphyllus, Ochna obtusata, Benkara malabarica and Eugenia bracteata and trees such as P. suberifolium and Canthium dicoccum var. umbellatum.

Cluster A

Cluster B

Cluster C Cluster D

Borderline positive

Borderline negative

Axis 1

Axi

s 2 E = 0.18

E = 0.19

E = 0.20

Figure 6. The ordination diagram based on species abundance in terms of plots. Species are denoted by four letters (two letters from generic name of particular species and two letters from species name) and plots are denoted by two letters and numerical number referring to arboretum (AR) and woodland (WL). Four clusters identified by TWINSPAN were subjectively marked in the ordination diagram, where cluster A and B denoted the positive branch of the cluster, while cluster C and D denoted the negative branch of the cluster. Letter E indicates the Eigen value of each cluster.

151

DISCUSSION

Perera (1998) carried out a vegetation survey at Sigiriya sanctuary and recorded over 5,000 individuals of trees and 5,000 individuals of shrubs per hectare. This was quite a high density compared to density of trees and shrubs at the arboretum. This is because of the contribution of immature seedlings and sapling in the Sigiriya sanctuary. Furthermore, size class distribution of individuals at Sigiriya sanctuary showed very few large trees and the majority has smaller diameters. But in the Dambulla arboretum, the predominance of mature trees indicates that the forest in Dambulla arboretum is higher in its regeneration state. Samarasinghe 1995 showed that Chloroxylon swietenia was the most dominant tree based on its relative density (RD =3.4 in year1993) followed by Grewia damine (RD = 0.1), Diospyros ferrea (RD = 0.1) and Pterospermum suberifolium (RD = 0.5). The present survey found that these are the leading tree species however; their dominance within the survey was altered. On the other hand, Samarasinghe recorded Phyllanthus polyphyllus was the leading dominant, whereas it was the second dominant species in the present survey.

Relatively high stem densities, particularly stems in the smaller girth size classes is due to a dominance of species of typically small size i.e. Diospyros ferrea, Memecylon umbellatum and Ixora pavetta and coppicing of shrubs.

Cramer in 1993 documented 192 plant species of which 88 species were trees composed of rare, endemic and endangered species. The vegetation in the arboretum, when compared with primary forests in the dry zone has climax species in the canopy layer.

Reverse J shaped curve observed in the vegetation of the arboretum indicates that these are in the late regenerating phase of secondary vegetation. The vegetation of the arboretum was regenerated via silvicultural management since 1963 and therefore it harbors mature trees, while the vegetation of the woodlands declared for conservation since 1989 by the Institute of Fundamental Studies has both mature and immature trees.

Bauhinia racemosa, G. damine and P. suberifolium that play an important role in the damana forest, adapted to withstand fire can be seen here. On the other hand, M. hexandra, C. swietenia, Drypetes sepiaria and Diospyros ebenum are climax forest species in the dry zone. The occurrence of fire tolerant species as well as climax forest species indicates that the forest is in a late succession stage of regeneration.

The IVI values of C. swietenia are fairly good. This tree species was considered as the key species in monsoon forests, which in the past, was classified as M. hexandara - D. sepiaria - C. swietenia association based on their abundance in the forest. However, the present survey recorded that these species in the arboretum still provide refuge for remarkably rare species such as Diospyros ebenum, Diospyros malabarica and Diospyros oppositifolia. Of the shrub species M. umbellatum recorded the highest importance value. Fernando (1996) has suggested that the very high relative importance value of these species in forests of Maduru Oya national park indicate that there has been minimal disturbance. This is further confirmed because the arboretum was initiated in the year 1963 and disturbance has not taken place since and therefore an abundance of this species is obvious and to be expected.

152

The three most dominant families by number of species in the arboretum and woodland were Rutaceae, Fabaceae and Euphorbiaceae. Plants in these families are adapted to grow under dry and stressful environmental conditions. Some members of the Euphorbiaceae and Rutaceae have thorns, latex, cladodes and/or relatively small leaves to conserve water and escape herbivory. Some members of Fabaceae can fix Nitrogen and therefore, they can perform well in the dry zone forests. The present results further confirm Samarasinghes findings of diverse families viz., Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae and Rutaceae.

The ordination diagram clearly shows that the plots of the arboretum and woodland are divided into two because of different regeneration stages. The species inhabitants in the arboretum are mainly trees and shrubs typically found in the primary dry zone forests. Cluster A resulted in basically dominant species in the woodland. On the other hand, Cluster C dominated by valuable timber such as Chloroxylon swietenia and Pleurostylia opposita and mainly inhabits the arboretum.

CONCLUSIONS

The study proves the importance of the arboretum with regard to its fairly rich flowering plants including endemics, valuable timber trees and plentiful medicinal plants. Furthermore, arboretum provides refuge for typical dry zone key plant species through natural regeneration from the soil seed bank. Application of Popham method is r