Vultures photographed during a recent monthly mobile vulture restaurant. Vuthy Vicheth/NatureLife Cambodia
Cambodia is hosting a forum on the Asia-wide conservation of vultures. During the five-day meeting, the participants will discuss strengthening global vulture conservation efforts. Cambodia is home to over 100 individuals of these critically endangered species.
The February 17 to 21 forum is part of the 14th Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction (SAVE) Annual General Meeting on vulture conservation. It serves as an opportunity for national and international environmental conservation groups to develop action plans to address the threats to vulture populations.
For Cambodia, it was also a chance to share its vulture conservation efforts with representatives from other countries that still have vulture populations, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Myanmar.
The event was organised by the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Working Group (CVWG) and the Ministry of Environment, and took place in Phnom Penh.
Chea Sam Ang, ministry secretary of state, called the forum an important opportunity for experts to showcase progress, challenges and strategies to ensure a safe future for the world’s endangered vultures.
"Cambodia is the last hope for vultures in Southeast Asia, but their numbers have declined by half over the last decade. For nearly two decades, the ministry and the CVWG have worked closely together to protect all three vulture species in the Kingdom,” he said.
He added that coordinated efforts to conserve three species of vulture – the slender-billed vulture, red-headed vulture and the white-rumped vulture – through various programmes have been implemented across protected areas to mitigate major threats, monitor population numbers and ensure their long-term survival.
Bou Vorsak, executive director of NatureLife Cambodia, noted that the Kingdom is the only nation in the Indochina region to still have all three critically endangered vulture species.
“Thanks to the dedicated efforts of our working group, we can confirm that the vulture population in Cambodia is stable. According to the most recent data, the total number of vultures across all three species is around 130,” he explained.
Experts noted that vultures are under threat from several factors, including poisoning, food scarcity, habitat loss and human disturbance. Addressing these threats requires collaborative efforts from all stakeholders.
Neighbouring countries Vietnam and Thailand have already lost their vulture populations. During the meeting, Thai experts presented plans to reintroduce vultures into their country.
emima Parry-Jones, president of Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction (SAVE), called for increased participation in vulture conservation efforts, noting that they play a vital role in cleaning the environment by feeding on carcasses of dead animals.
“Vulture conservation is a critical effort for both Cambodia and the world. It is an invaluable part of maintaining natural heritage, biodiversity, and eco-tourism,” she explained.
SAVE is a coalition of conservation organisations across South and Southeast Asia that are working together to protect vulture populations in the region.
Vultures are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.
The birds play an important role in the ecosystem by cleaning up carcasses and helping maintain environmental balance.
However, their numbers have drastically declined worldwide, including in Cambodia, due to food shortages and poisoning from consuming contaminated animal carcasses.
The CVWG includes contributions from the environment ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, as well as several conservation organisations, including ACCB, NatureLife Cambodia, Rising Phoenix, WCS, WWF, CBGA, SVC-Tours, and the Center for Biodiversity Conservation.
Over the next two days, the participants will receive updates from international conservation teams from six countries.
The discussions will cover urgent threats to vultures, the roles of conservation teams, national action plans and cross-border collaboration.
In addition, the visiting delegates will have the chance to learn more about Cambodia’s vulture conservation efforts during a field trip to the Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary in Stung Treng province, where they will explore the significance of mobile vulture restaurants and the results of vulture nest monitoring.
Since April 2024, NatureLife Cambodia and the Mandia Nature Fund, supported by BirdLife International Asia, have organised monthly mobile vulture restaurants to monitor the presence of the Red-headed Vulture in the Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary.
Four potential locations within the landscape have been selected to host the mobile restaurants, and so far, vultures have been recorded at two of them, which is an encouraging sign for the conservation of this critically endangered species.
The next two mobile vulture restaurants will take place in February and March 2025, with full results to be shared upon completion.
In 2023, a vulture census in Cambodia recorded a total of 131 vultures, including 12 Red-headed Vultures, 77 White-rumped Vultures, and 42 the slender-billed Vultures.
