A FRAMEWORK FOR A BLOCKCHAIN-ENABLED, COMMUNITY-POWERED SYSTEM TO MITIGATE RAILWAY-ELEPHANT COLLISIONS IN SRI LANKA
P.G.D.K. Thathsarani*
Institute of Technology, University of Moratuwa, Homagama, Sri Lanka
Session: Technical Session C
Abstract
Railway-elephant collisions represent a severe threat to both wildlife and human infrastructure in Sri Lanka, with numerous elephant deaths reported annually along high-risk railway corridors. Despite the visibility of the problem, current mitigation strategies remain reactive, fragmented, and lack real-time community involvement. This research presents a comprehensive design framework for a blockchain-enabled, communitypowered reporting system specifically aimed at preventing railway-elephant accidents through enhanced stakeholder engagement and data integrity. The proposed framework allows local citizens to report elephant sightings near railway tracks through mobile or SMS interfaces, with each report designed to be immutably stored on a blockchain ledger to ensure traceability, trust, and transparency. The system design incorporates GPS tagging, railway buffer zone detection, and smart contracts that trigger alerts to station masters when elephants are detected within high-risk proximity. Through extensive stakeholder analysis and technical architecture modeling, this research addresses critical gaps in current reporting mechanisms by emphasizing accountable, tamper-proof data collection and automated response protocols. This paper is limited to analyzing the theoretical foundation, system architecture, stakeholder requirements analysis, and design rationale for deployment. The framework incorporates offline capabilities, multilingual support, and community-centric design principles specially tailored to the rural Sri Lankan context. Technical specifications include the implementation of Hyperledger Fabric blockchain, geofencing algorithms, and multi-stakeholder consensus mechanisms. The research introduces novel integration approaches for blockchain technology in wildlife conservation and establishes a comprehensive framework that is ready for both implementation and empirical validation. The performance of the system, community adoption, and its impact on collision prevention will be evaluated through controlled pilot testing in the Hambantota District with findings to be presented in future work.
Keywords: elephant mortality, railway accidents, blockchain, citizen reporting, Sri Lanka
DOI: 10.64752/ZXJQ6240