Project orange elephant is a conflict specific holistic approach to mitigating human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka

Human-wildlife conflicts are an increasing problem as human land use encroaches on wildlife habitats. Augmenting farmers’ crops with orange trees through Project Orange Elephant has proven to be a simple and effective method for mitigating human-elephant conflicts in Sri Lanka. Similar endeavours could be applied elsewhere in the world.


The solution
Project Orange Elephant (POE) is an innovative initiative conceptualized by the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS) (Fig. 1). The initiative draws on elephants' natural aversion to citrus to protect the homes of farmers from elephant attacks while at the same time providing farmers with a sustainable supplementary income. The project is unique to Sri Lanka and came about as the result of fieldwork conducted by the SLWCS in the Wasgamuwa area of the Central Province of Sri Lanka.
Elephants do not preferentially eat oranges. To test this observation a series of feeding trials were conducted with six Asian elephants at the Sri Lanka National Zoological Gardens in 2006. The results were very encouraging, the elephants showed an obvious distaste for oranges and several other citrus varieties.
POE is a crop diversification project to establish an economic and trophic buffer for farmers living in the rural countryside for which close encounters with elephants during their day-to-day activities are commonplace. Crop raiding by elephants and the harsh retaliatory measures subsequently taken by people whose livelihoods depend on their farms feeds a vicious cycle of violence and death. POE is helping to reduce this violence. The project uses a variety of grafted local orange (Citrus sinensis) known as Bibile Sweet that had been developed in Sri Lanka to suit the local climatic conditions (Fig. 2). This variety grows well in marginalized land and does not need frequent irrigation, bears fruit within 1.5-3 years, and each tree can provide~300-600 fruits per season. Each tree has a fruiting cycle of two seasons per year. Bibile Sweet is a high-quality fruit known for its fresh sweetness, value-added products, and has good market demand. By planting these trees alongside their crops, particularly in the border areas adjacent to elephant habitats, we hope to decrease crop raiding by elephants while also supplementing farmers' income The objective of POE is to develop solutions at the micro-level to have an impact at the macro level to reduce HEC through a better understanding of elephant biology, ecology, behaviour, human-needs, and aspirations. By mobilizing local communities to grow oranges as an alternative cash crop the project provides assistance to elevate them socio-economically by providing them with a sustainable primary income from cultivating oranges. The SLWCS hopes to encourage more and more farmers to join the project to provide a sustainable solution to reduce HEC and create an environment of coexistence by scaling up POE. This effort will not only help to mitigate HEC but also alleviate rural poverty helping to garner the support of local communities for the longterm conservation of the endangered Sri Lankan elephant.
The key factors of the project is its simplicity. The project does not involve advance technological transfers or teaching farmers brand new skills or building their capacity to do something other than what they are traditionally trained to do. The project is harnessing farmers' existing skills and abilities to do something new and economically, socially and ecologically beneficial to them and the environment. For the most part, POE can be managed totally with community resources. SLWCS encourage farmers to cultivate crops such as oranges that are not attractive to elephants, rather than rice cultivation. The Society believes POE can change the future of elephants and farmers. If we can get these rice farmers to cultivate oranges at least in the border areas adjacent to elephant habitats then these farmers will have a primary income that is not susceptible to elephant depredations. This will contribute to creating coexistence in a landscape where people and elephants share space. For more than a decade the SLWCS has been working with local communities to create alternative Fig. 2 Orange trees mask the smell of crops and provide a natural deterrent that helps prevent elephants from raiding farms, while also providing a supplemental income for farmers. Fig. 1 Staff and volunteers collaborate with communities and empower citizens of Sri Lanka to support sustainable, long-term conservation projects. COMMENT COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-0760-4 forms of agriculture and to create livelihoods that cannot be destroyed by elephants (Fig. 3). By cultivating oranges, rural Sri Lankan farmers in Wasgamuwa are creating an effective elephant trophic deterrent and a sustainable income for themselves while at the same time ensuring the safety of their families and the conservation of the endangered Sri Lankan elephant.
In 2015, Project Orange Elephant received a Most Innovative Development Project Award from the Global Development Network (GDN) based in Washington, DC, U.S.A. For more information on the project, you can visit our website (https:// www.slwcs.org/project-orange-elephant).
Saving Elephants by Helping People is the underlying and overlying philosophy as well the goal and objective of the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society's efforts to develop holistic and sustainable measures to mitigate human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka.