On the dry plains around Hambantota, the vegetation can look unremarkable at first glance. Thorny scrub, patches of grass and scattered trees cover land that has already been reshaped by farms, roads and large infrastructure projects. Yet this rough-looking landscape is part of the everyday range of hundreds of Sri Lankan elephants. They feed here, move through it and use its remaining water sources as they cross a landscape increasingly shared with people.Now parts of that habitat are being cleared for a planned solar energy park. Seventeen separate projects are being developed in the same wider area, each assessed individually. That has raised a difficult question: what happens when a collection of small projects becomes one large development from the elephant’s point of view?
Hambantota ’s solar ambitions collide with the habitat needs of 400 elephants
Hambantota sits in Sri Lanka’s relatively dry southern zone, where rainfall is lower and sunlight is plentiful. Those conditions make it an attractive location for solar generation. The district already hosts renewable energy facilities, and the government is looking to expand electricity production from sources that can reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels.But the scrub forests and grasslands that make the area useful for solar development have another function. Elephants eat the vegetation. They move between patches of scrub, grassland and water, often travelling beyond the boundaries of formally protected wildlife areas. As reported by The Sunday Times Sri Lanka, in Hambantota, more than 400 elephants are estimated to depend on this mixture of habitats.For people living nearby, that relationship has become increasingly difficult. When feeding areas disappear or routes are blocked, elephants do not simply vanish from the landscape. They can turn up in cultivated fields, villages and even built-up areas in search of food and space.
Elephant habitat lost in Hambantota
The district has undergone substantial change over the past few decades. Ports, airports, roads, agriculture and settlements have taken over parts of the former wilderness. As reported, almost 8,100 hectares of elephant habitat have been lost to major development in the region, according to conservationists. Global Forest Watch data also indicate that Hambantota lost about 5,900 hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2024.Tree cover figures do not tell the whole story, though. Much of the landscape used by elephants is not dense forest. Dry scrub and open grasslands can appear degraded to people looking for land to develop, while still providing food and movement space for wildlife.Conservation scientist Prithiviraj Fernando, who has studied the movements of elephants in the region, says the scrub vegetation is a traditional feeding habitat for elephants living in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. Clearing it can therefore remove useful habitat even when the land does not resemble the lush forests that are usually associated with wildlife conservation.An elephant that loses one feeding area may have to travel farther to find another. If fences or other developments interrupt its usual route, the animal can be pushed towards farmland and settlements. In a district already struggling with human-elephant conflict, that can create another point of friction.
Hambantota’s 150MW solar plan raises elephant habitat concerns
The proposed development is expected to produce around 150 megawatts of electricity. It is not being presented as one enormous project on paper, however. Instead, the solar park is divided into 17 smaller units being developed by different companies.Under Sri Lanka’s environmental approval system, large developments can require a more comprehensive environmental impact assessment, while smaller schemes may go through an initial environmental examination. The individual solar projects in Hambantota received approvals through the latter route, according to environmental campaigners. Each project could therefore be considered within its own footprint.A herd does not stop at the edge of one development because the next parcel has been assigned to another company. Fences, cleared vegetation, access roads and other infrastructure can collectively alter how animals move through a much larger area.Hemantha Withanage of the Centre for Environmental Justice argues that this combined effect should have been assessed as a whole. The projects are now being developed alongside one another, and together they could clear about 202 hectares of scrub habitat, he says.There is a further figure from the community campaign that is larger still. Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform says as much as 405 hectares of elephant habitat could ultimately be affected by the wider clearances.The difference reflects the way the project area and its impacts are being counted. Either way, the dispute is not simply about a few isolated solar installations.
Sri Lanka’s 2021 elephant range was created to protect vital habitat
Sri Lanka introduced the concept of Managed Elephant Ranges to deal with precisely this problem: elephants do not live exclusively inside national parks and other protected areas. The approach was included in the country’s elephant conservation policy in 2006. It recognised that large numbers of elephants occupy landscapes where people also farm, build homes and carry out other activities.The aim was not to freeze these areas completely. Human activity could continue, but land use was supposed to be managed in a way that retained habitat and connectivity while reducing conflict. Scientists used radio collars on elephants in 2010 to understand where different herds moved and which areas they depended on. Those observations helped identify the landscape that should form the Hambantota Managed Elephant Range. It took more than a decade for the range to be formally declared.When it was gazetted in 2021, the designated area covered 23,746 hectares, with a separate 866-hectare allocation for Mattala International Airport. The effective MER area was therefore about 22,880 hectares.Fernando says that was already smaller than the landscape originally identified as necessary for elephant management. Some areas used by elephants had been left out because development interests were given priority.
Hambantota’s shrinking elephant range is raising fears for farmers
Conservationists say parts of the range have been altered over time, including during the construction of boundary fences. For them, the issue is not simply that the MER is smaller than originally proposed. It is that areas that elephants continue to use may gradually fall outside the practical protection offered by the designation.Some of the land now being cleared for solar development is said to overlap with areas that were part of the original proposals for the range. Chamikara says continued encroachment has already squeezed elephants into smaller areas. Clearing and fencing those remaining patches could leave the animals with fewer options for moving between feeding grounds. Farmers living alongside the range are watching this closely.