As the human population has grown and expanded, increasing pressure is being put on natural habitats in Sri Lanka. This situation has led to a noticeable increase in human–primate conflicts. To understand the situation, we studied the interactions between humans and macaques in three administrative divisions of the Kurunegala District. Data was gathered from 875 informants through interviewer-administered questionnaires between 2020 and 2022. The monthly economic loss by commercial farmers due to macaque damage to fruits and vegetables doubled by 2022, amounting to approximately 5000 LKR. In non-fruiting seasons, losses from coconut damage increased, ranging from 3000 to 14,000 LKR/month, decreasing by over 50% during fruiting seasons. Property damage per household averaged between 850~4000 LKR/month. A cost of approximately 1200~3000 LKR was borne per household/month to deter monkeys from the fields. Macaques were the primary culprits for crop damage in this area, and were also responsible for property damage, surpassing that of other animals. The consensus among the community is that either relocating macaques to other forested areas or sterilizing them to control their population could mitigate the issue to some extent. An integrated management plan involving relevant stakeholders including the Forest Department, the Wildlife Conservation Department, the local agricultural agency, and local citizens is necessary to address the conflict arising from human–macaque crop utilization.

As the human population has grown and expanded, increasing pressure is being put on natural habitats in Sri Lanka. This situation has led to a noticeable increase in human-primate conflicts. To understand the situation, we studied the interactions between humans and macaques in three administrative divisions of Kurunegala District. Data was gathered from 875 informants through interviewer-administered questionnaires between 2020 and 2022. The monthly economic loss by commercial farmers due to macaque damage to fruits and vegetables doubled by 2022, amounting to approximately 5000 LKR. In non-fruiting seasons, losses from coconut damage increased, ranging from 3000 to 14,000 LKR/month, decreasing by over 50% during fruiting seasons. Property damage per household averaged between 850 ~4,000 LKR/month. A cost of approximately 1200~3000 LKR was borne per household/month to deter monkeys from the fields. Macaques were the primary culprits for crop damage in this area, and were also responsible for property damage, surpassing that of other animals. The consensus among the community is that either relocating macaques to other forested areas or sterilizing them to control their population could mitigate the issue to some extent. An integrated management plan involving relevant stakeholders is necessary to address the conflict arising from human-macaque crop utilization.

Heritage has always been one of the major products of Sri Lanka tourism since its initial stage. In addition to the intangible heritage attractions, the industry is inclined to promote the monuments and sites which majorly belong to the historic period. In this process, one of the country’s finest cultural assets has been overlooked by the tourism practitioners. This resource is nothing but the abundant pre and pro-historic sites scattered around different parts of the island. Hence, this research was carried out to fill this gap with the objectives of understanding the potentials of pre and proto-historic sites to be developed as tourism sites, recognizing the possible barriers and consequences of doing that, and seeking means of benefitting archeological sites and tourism industry mutually. The sample of the study which was obtained via purposive sampling technique included twenty-nine members representing nine archaeologists who engage in pre and pro-historic archaeological work and officers-in-charge of such sites, two representatives from SLTDA and SLTPB, representatives from six leading destination management companies, five tour guides and seven tourists who are interested in pre and proto history. Researchers adopted the exploratory qualitative method as the study aimed at unfolding something almost unexplored. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to extract primary data. Secondary data were collected from reliable publications. Content analysis was carried out with the assistance of NVivo software. The findings of this study indicate that there is a visible gap in an essential holistic approach between archaeologists, tourism authorities, DMCs, and tour guides. There is a substantial special interest tourist group traveling the world to explore pre-history and proto-history who could be drawn to Sri Lanka if the country can package these sites well. It was also found that archaeological sites and tourism could be mutually benefited as the sites get fame and protection when developed as tourism sites while the tourism industry can reach out to a profitable special interest traveler group. The archaeologists who have contributed to the excavation over the course of time could be appreciated too.

There are several theories as to how the name 'Colombo' came to be. During the Middle Ages, it was known as 'Kolontota' in Sinhala and 'Calenbo' by the Arabs. The Chinese explorer Chan-ta-yuan referred to Colombo as 'Kolanapu,' a hot swampy city, in the 14th century, and the Arab explorer Ibn Battuta, who visited Ceylon in the same century, described Colombo as a beautiful, large city. Researchers of the present study adopted the mixed approach to accomplish the previously explained research objective which was setting a proper reconstruction of the historical landscape of Colombo with archaeological references. The research was conducted with the support extended by the National Museum and the survey department in Sri Lanka. Researchers went through all the maps and archaeological landscape evidence mentioned in previous archaeological research like Archaeological Geophysics. The results were listed down as periodical landscape changes and how the changes happened vertically from the Colombo prehistoric era until the Kotte period, Colombo during the Portuguese period, Colombo's landscape at the conclusion of the Portuguese period, and Colombo's Dutch period.