Contested Conservation, Ethnopolitics, and the State: The Case of Wilpattu Forest Complex, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Wilpattu Forest Complex, comprised of the Wilpattu National Park and adjoining forest areas in north-western Sri Lanka, was at the centre of a dispute over biodiversity conservation, deforestation and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPSs), Muslim minorities at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war-1983-2009. This paper traces how the majority Buddhist and the minority Muslim cleavages have ethnicised this conflict. Militant Buddhist nationalists have framed resettlement as 'illegal encroachment' since 2014. However, in the following year, environmentalists took on the issue from the standpoint of biodiversity conservation leading to members of the Muslim community reacting against perceived injuries. The subsequent contradictory responses by Sri Lankan state representatives highlighted its factionalised character regarding conservation policies and territorial planning, further exacerbated existing ethnopolitical divisions. Data has been gathered through field research and a literature survey, and has been analysed using a political ecology approach. The paper contributes to the literature on conservation and violence and shows that in post-conflict situations, the territorial reconfiguration of protected areas is deeply intertwined with conflict legacies and on-going power struggles within post-civil-war societies.