Abstract:
This study examines the human-elephant conflict in the context of environmental journalism in
Sri Lanka. The paper is based on empirical study and reviews of the relevant literature in
environmental sociology and political ecology. The changing political economic policies and
development activities have affected the reciprocal interaction between society and nature
resulting many socio-environmental crises such as the human-elephant conflict which has
become a threat to the elephant population as well as to human beings.
The main objective of the paper is to assess the human-elephant conflict in the context of
environmental journalism in Sri Lanka. The paper draws relevant literature from archives and
print media. Content analysis of newspaper articles of Sunday Lankadeepa, Sunday Observer
and Sunday Thinakaran published from 2009 to 2013 was carried out based on stratified
sampling. The qualitative information with regard to environmental journalism on the humanelephant
conflict was collected from 15 in-depth interviews based on purposive sampling.
The findings revealed the main cause for the human-elephant conflict is rapid increase in human
population, deforestation in the name of development, conspicuous consumption and socio -
economic agricultural policies. The increase of rural habitation has resulted in invading the natural elephant territories by humans. This has become the underline cause for the human
elephant conflict in many parts of Sri Lanka. Moreover, the government agricultural economic
policies have a major impact on destroying the elephants’ natural habitat. Due to the loss of
their habitats and habitat fragmentation, elephants have begun to roam around rural habitation
and migrate from place to place attacking and destroying cultivated land and people. On the
other hand, media highlights the human-elephant conflict in comparison with other
environmental issues sensationalizing the conflict by highlighting and creating a critical socioenvironmental
issue on the mass culture.
