Rice To The Rescue

Illegal logging and hunting is bringing birds to the brink of extinction in Cambodia’s forests. But, thanks to BirdLife, there is now hope on the horizon, and it appears that bags of rice are part of the solution.

- Shaun Hurrell

When he brakes his motorbike suddenly, I almost collide with Mem Mai, whose balding rear tyre is furrowing the sandy soil. I’d been concentrating on keeping my bike upright as we juddered over tree roots in the dry, open forest of Western Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia, and by the time I dismount, Mem’s already peering through binoculars and pointing enthusiastically through some long grass.

I have to be quick – the national bird of Cambodia is as shy as it is tall. But there it is no mistaking its iridescent glossy flanks and iconic down-curved bill – the giant ibis, by far the largest of all ibis species. I just catch a glimpse of its dark red eyes before it’s gone, but that moment has stuck with me ever since.

The giant ibis is Critically Endangered, and data from BirdLife shows that there are fewer than 200 adults left – and the total is still declining. The entire species could be gone in the blink of a ruby-coloured eye were it not for people like Mem, senior field monitoring officer for BirdLife’s Cambodia Programme, which has been working to protect the ibis habitat and engaging with local communities for more than 15 years.

From where we stand, overlooking a pool in a forest clearing – edged by muddy footprints that hint that this is an amphibian, fish and invertebrate buffet for long-legged wading birds – it’s hard to believe that this distinctive forest is under threat. But look closely at its human footprint and you start to build a picture of hand tractors with illegal timber being pulled back across the border to Laos in the north; of forest clearances for smallholder agriculture along newly-carved roads; and of illegal hunting and nesting disturbance.