Sri Lanka, Sept. 23 -- The Government has launched a major programme to strengthen the resources available to wildlife officials responsible for maintaining Sri Lanka's 5,741-kilometre electric fence network, as part of a long-term strategy to address the country's human-elephant conflict.

The initiative, spearheaded by the Ministry of Environment, is based on the policy that effective management of the conflict requires frontline wildlife officials to be provided with adequate human and physical resources.

The human-elephant conflict has developed over several decades and has been linked to factors including unplanned development and habitat fragmentation. The Government said the latest programme seeks to move away from temporary meas...