Effort helps rare Cambodia bird

August 19, 2007

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*Fri Aug 17, 9:28 AM ET*

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - 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 Friday.

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 dollars 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. "

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