Efforts made for Cambodia bird

Phnom Penh — Cambodia’s Bengal Florican, one of the world’s rarest birds, will be the first to benefit from a global effort to save critically endangered birds from extinction, a conservation group said last week.

Britain-based BirdLife International said it had launched a campaign to raise millions of dollars for conservation over the next five years as it fights to keep the world’s 189 most endangered bird species alive.

"With less than 1,000 individual birds remaining, the Bengal Florican had been given just five years before disappearing forever from its stronghold, the floodplain of the Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia," BirdLife said.

Around $10,000 is expected to be raised for the black and white Florican, said Vorsak Bou of the group’s Cambodia office.

With industrial-scale agriculture presenting the biggest threat to the Florican in Cambodia, the money will fund programmes encouraging communities to use low-impact, traditional farming techniques.

Last year the government set aside about 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres) of grassland for the Florican’s habitat in Kampong Thom province northwest of Phnom Penh.

Another protected area was created in Siem Reap province, home to the famed Angkor temples, and more are planned for the Florican, the most threatened of the world’s bustard species, government officials said.

The Florican, also found in small numbers in India and Nepal, has declined globally by about 80 percent over the last 12 years.

Ten years ago their numbers were as high as 3,000 in Cambodia, but hunting and land encroachment have taken a heavy toll.

"Parts of the grassland need to be kept if Cambodia is going to continue having this bird," said Tom Evans of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "Cambodia is the best hope for the survival of this bird."

Global agreements

Meanwhile, in London, a European Union policy of protecting rare birds was earlier reported to be working, according to British researchers who said their study shows the benefits of global agreements to save endangered species.

The study is the first to test the impact of one of the 20 international pacts seeking to protect endangered species and their habitats, said Paul Donald, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, who led the research.

"[Our premise is that] the future protection of the planet’s biodiversity is going to rest on the success of these international agreements," Mr. Donald said in a telephone interview. "The scale of the problem is well beyond what non-governmental organizations are able to address."

The researchers tested how 140 species of birds on a protected list such as ospreys, avocets and a number of water birds fared in comparison with other species within the European Union and similar species in non-member nations.

In both cases, populations of the protected birds increased at a faster pace than non-EU populations, demonstrating the success of the 1979 EU Bird Directive, Mr. Donald said.

The study also found that birds fared better the longer they were on the protected list, bolstering evidence that the policy has paid off, Mr. Donald said. — AFP and Reuters


	© 2009 BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.

Environment

Story tools

Environment

Efforts made for Cambodia bird