 |
Veddah man, Eastern Sri Lanka. |
The Wanniyala-Aetto (Veddah) people of Sri Lanka have appealed to their
country's government to allow them to return to their land. One Veddah
man told a Survival researcher, 'Living in the jungle, we had
everything we needed. We can't get these things here in the village. We
want to go back to our jungle.' Until 1983, the Veddah lived in the
forests of eastern Sri Lanka, by hunting, gathering and shifting
cultivation. They were forced to leave their land when the government
of Sri Lanka turned it into the Maduru Oya National Park. They now live
in government resettlement areas outside the park, and are banned from
hunting and gathering on their land. They are routinely fined and
imprisoned for continuing to hunt.
