Government of Cambodia declares Sarus Crane Reserve

Boeung Prek Lapouv Sarus Crane Conservation Area has been protected by Prime Ministerial Decree (Photo: J C Eames)

05-11-2007
BirdLife International

One of the most globally important sites for the South-east Asian race sharpii of Sarus Crane Grus antigone – the fastest declining of the three races of this Vulnerable species – has been declared a reserve after several years of active lobbying by the Wildlife Protection Office of the Forestry Administration in partnership with BirdLife International in Indochina.

The Council of Ministers of the Government of Cambodia has now approved a proposal to protect nearly 9,000 hectares, comprising 919 ha of core area and 8,305 ha in total, of seasonally inundated grassland in Takeo Province in south-eastern Cambodia. The process to complete the notification of the Boeung Prek Lapouv Sarus Crane Conservation Area was recently completed upon signing of a Prime Ministerial Decree by His Excellency Hun Sen.

The site is used by up to 300 Sarus Cranes, nearly 40% the global population of the race sharpii. The Sarus Cranes arrive in December and remain until February when the site dries-up. There are only three other sites regularly used by this sub-species during the non-breeding season. Of these two are in Cambodia and the third in Vietnam. All three of these sites are under conservation management but only two are currently protected by law. BirdLife and the Forestry Administration are now working to have the third Cambodian site at Kampong Trach, also protected by law.

“BirdLife has been working with our colleagues at the Forestry Administration to establish Boeung Prek Lapouv as a protected area for about five years,” said Jonathan C. Eames, Programme Manager for BirdLife International in Indochina.

“This is the first protected area in Cambodia that we have proposed and succeeded in having the government gazette. We are proud of this achievement.” —Bou Vorsak, BirdLife in Indochina

The Forestry Administration (FA) is part of Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the work which has resulted in the “gazettement” of the the IBA as a protected area was led by Mr Seng Kim Hout, who was seconded to BirdLife from the Wildlife Protection Office of the FA, and his colleague Mr Men Phymean, Director of the Wildlife Protection Office.

Seng Kim Hout is also first author of the Directory of Important Bird Areas in Cambodia: key sites for conservation, where a fuller description of Boeung Prek Lapouv IBA is available (Click here).

Eames said that the proposal had been through many iterations, and the final area approved was somewhat smaller than BirdLife had lobbied for. “However, the site is located in one of the poorest and most densely populated parts of Cambodia. It is a tribute to the Cambodian Government that they put conservation first over allocation of the land to rice cultivation, which they could easily have done.”

Bou Vorsak, Cambodia Acting Programme Manager for BirdLife’s work in Cambodia, said this was a landmark decision for BirdLife. “This is the first protected area in Cambodia that we have proposed and succeeded in having the government gazette. We are proud of this achievement.”

Since 2003, Boeung Prek Lapouv has been patrolled by a Site Support Group established by BirdLife, which has successfully prevented incursions by dry season rice farmers and hunters (particularly from Vietnam as the sites lied very close to the international frontier), as well as raising awareness of the importance of the area’s biodiversity, and the benefits of sustainable use, among the local communities. Other threats faced by the site include water draw-off for rice irrigation and the spread of the invasive plant Mimosa pigra.

Group Launches Plan to Save 189 Birds

In this photo released by U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, a Bengal Florican is seen in Kampong Thom province, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the capital Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in this May 13, 2006 file photo. An international conservation group launched an ambitious plan Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007 to raise tens of million dollars to save 189 endangered birds over the next five years by protecting their habitat and raising public awareness about their plight. (AP Photo/Wildlfe Conservation Society, HO)

Wednesday, August 15, 2007
By MICHAEL CASEY
AP

BANGKOK, Thailand - An international conservation group launched an ambitious plan Thursday to raise tens of millions of dollars to save 189 endangered birds over the next five years by protecting their habitat and raising public awareness about their plight.

U.K.-based BirdLife International is calling on environmental groups, corporations and individuals to contribute the $37.8 million needed for what it is dubbing the Species Champions initiative.

The campaign comes as the numbers of extinct birds is on the rise, mostly due to poaching, habitat loss and overdevelopment. In the last three decades, 21 species have been lost, including the Hawaiian honeycreeper Poo-uli, Hawaiian Crow or alala and the Spixs Macaw from Brazil, BirdLife said.

The first birds to benefit will be the Bengal Florican in Cambodia, the Belding's Yellowthroat in Mexico, Djibouti Francolin in Djibouti and Restinga Antwren from Brazil. All have seen their numbers drop from a few thousand to a few hundred and their ranges limited to a few isolated locations.

"Critically endangered birds can be saved from extinction through this innovative approach," the group's Chief Executive Mike Rands said in a statement. "This is an enormous challenge, but one we are fully committed to achieving in our efforts to save the world's birds from extinction."

All the birds targeted in the campaign are listed by the World Conservation Union as critically endangered which means they are on the brink of extinction.

Among them are the Black Stilt, a New Zealand shorebird whose numbers have been reduced to a handful. Many like Taita Thrush in Kenya are confined to diminishing fragments of their former habitat. Others like the Red-headed Vulture are still widespread in Asia and still have populations measurable in thousands, but are in dramatic decline, having lost over 80 percent of their numbers in just three generations.

"We all have a negative impact on the environment, and we all have a little bit of blood on our hands when a species goes extinct," said Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's Global Species Program Coordinator. "The Species Champions initiative provides everyone with a personal opportunity to play their part in mitigating these impacts and in saving species from extinction."

BirdLife officials said the funding will also go to implementing environmental awareness programs, helping developing government conservation policies, creating protected area networks and carrying out surveys to better understand, assess and fight the threats facing the birds. Programs will also be aimed at removing invasive species, especially those that threaten island nesting species.

"The initiative is about raising funds to direct at the key people and organizations on the ground who can make a difference for these species on the brink of extinction," Butchart said. "It is the first time this approach has been taken in such a globally comprehensive and coordinated way for an entire class of organisms."