After years of fighting for the declaration, demarcation and gazetting of the Proposed Managed Elephant Reserve (MER) in Hambantota, the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers (OCM) of the Central Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), granted final approval for the implementation of the Proposed Managed Elephant Reserve! The implementation proposal was jointly tabled by the Cabinet Minister of Wildlife Resources and Forest Conservation and the Cabinet Minister of Irrigation, and states that the Proposed Managed Elephant Reserve will have an extent of 23,746.55 hectares (alternatively 237 square kilometres), including an extent of wilderness lands currently under the Department of Forest Conservation (DFC) and the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL). The Proposed Managed Elephant Reserve will be under the authority, management and purview of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC). This is a significant victory for the Wild Elephant population of the Hambantota District, and is a first step on the road to mitigating the on-going, elevated Human - Elephant Conflict (HEC) within the Hambantota District. However, until the Legal Draftsman’s Department (LDD) approves the final draft of the Extraordinary Gazette needed to officiate the Proposed Managed Elephant Reserve, pressure needs to be put on the Central Government, in order to ensure that the release of the aforementioned Extraordinary Gazette is not delayed or even forgotten!

My sincerest thanks to everyone who came together to make sure that this victory occurred, and here is towards a brighter future for all the Protected Areas (PAs), Proposed Reserves (PRs) and State Forests (SFs) in Sri Lanka, for both the longevity and ecological stability of the island!