- As long-distance tree seed dispersers, hornbills help balance the ecology of the complex tropical forests they inhabit.
- Three decades of hornbill conservation in southern Thailand have been underpinned by efforts to transform former poachers into conservationists who are paid wages as nest guardians.
- A new study indicates that education programs in schools and villages surrounding the region’s hornbill strongholds are key to the success and long-term sustainability of the nest guardian program, which has boosted hornbill breeding success and drawn widespread support from local residents.
- Yet political unrest in the region precludes traditional avenues of conservation funding, such as ecotourism, leaving the community-based initiative threatened by a lack of long-term funding and resources.
Budo-Sungai Padi National Park is a swath of dense tropical rainforest a fifth the size of Bangkok that lies along southern Thailand’s isthmus linking the country to Peninsular Malaysia. Its rugged peaks and lush valleys cut through Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces — an area facing rising political unrest, unpredictable weather, and escalating wildlife poaching.
Despite the environmental and social challenges, conservationists and communities have collaborated over the past three decades to revitalize populations of hornbills in and around the 34,100-hectare (84,300-acre) national park.
Populations of the iconic forest birds were at significant risk in the area during the 1990s due to habitat loss and high rates of poaching driven by the lucrative trade in their ornate head casques and live chicks. Poachers would target hornbill nests, often destroying old-growth trees in the process of accessing the birds.
But in 1994, the Hornbill Research Foundation (HRF) at Bangkok’s Mahidol University began engaging with local communities, offering poachers an alternative livelihood as nest guardians. Instead of hunting hornbills, they’re now paid wages and trained to monitor nests, collect data, and ultimately protect the species they once exploited. The project has helped to reduce poaching pressure and reverse the trajectory of decline for many species, supporting the fledging of 490 chicks between 1994 and 2008.
New research highlights how education programs in local villages and schools are key to the success of this HRF initiative. Quizzing more than 400 villagers about their perceptions of hornbills and local conservation outcomes, the research team found that participants who were more knowledgeable about hornbills and their ecological role were more likely to support conservation efforts.
By providing knowledge about hornbill ecology and the importance of nest cavities, large trees and minimizing human disturbance, education programs have integrated conservation into the local culture, the study says, ensuring future generations will continue to protect hornbills.
“Three decades ago, people hunted the hornbills because they needed the money. They didn’t know how hornbills live or how they’re important to the forest resources,” study lead author Jiraporn Teampanpong, an assistant professor at Kasetsart University in Bangkok, told Mongabay in an interview. “Now, people recognize that hornbills are part of the legacy that they can give to the next generation. That is a result of the conservation education program — showing that the forest is a special place and that the hornbills are special animals.”
Thailand is home to 13 species of hornbills, six of which are recorded in the south of the country: helmeted hornbills (Rhinoplax vigil), rhinoceros hornbills (Buceros rhinoceros), white-crowned hornbills (Berenicornis comatus), great hornbills (Buceros bicornis), wreathed hornbills (Rhyticeros undulatus) and bushy-crested hornbills (Anorrhinus galeritus).
Persistent efforts to maintain positive perceptions about hornbill conservation are particularly important when it comes to reducing poaching pressure on charismatic species, such as the critically endangered helmeted hornbills and vulnerable rhinoceros hornbills, according to the study.
“Having the support and interest from local people is very important,” Jiraporn said. “Whenever they notice small groups of hunters going into the forest to collect hornbill chicks, they will come and report it to the conservation staff.”
The strong legacy of hornbill conservation spans generations in the area, Jiraporn added. Many of the local residents who currently protect hornbill nests are the children of those first engaged in the project three decades ago. Moreover, participants widely reported first hearing about hornbills from their children who had learned about them at school. Over time, hornbill conservation became synonymous with protection of forest-dependent resources, such as water and nontimber forest products.
Challenges remain
Despite the successes of the conservation program, challenges remain. Habitat loss due to illegal logging, land encroachment and forest degradation continues to threaten the region’s hornbill populations. A recent study comparing two protected areas in southern Thailand — Budo-Sungai Padi National Park and the less disturbed Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary — found that hornbill populations, particularly of helmeted hornbills, are struggling in more degraded environments.
The team of researchers from Thailand and India observed fewer hornbills in the more disturbed site, which they say is likely due to human-driven disturbance reducing the number of large, slow-growing trees with nesting cavities suitable for hornbills.
While the study documents an overall increase in the population density of great hornbills and wreathed hornbills across the area over the past 20 years, numbers of helmeted hornbills have declined sharply, by more than 90%.
The authors say the decline in helmeted hornbills, which naturally live at particularly low population densities, is particularly concerning. Not only is poaching likely a persistent threat given the significant demand for helmeted hornbill casques in the illegal wildlife trade, but the two protected areas surveyed are among the last remaining habitats for the species in southern Thailand.
Bee Choo Strange, international coordinator of the HRF and a co-author of the population study, said it’s now vital to widen their observations to encompass seven further hornbill habitats across the region that face similar threats. This would enable a more detailed assessment of the status of severely threatened species, such as helmeted hornbills, black hornbills (Anthracoceros malayanus), white-crowned hornbills and wrinkled hornbills (Rhabdotorrhinus corrugatus).
Increasing the capacity of regional academics and research assistants is also vital, Bee Choo added. “Besides doing the field research, [HRF] are training young regional researchers on field study and techniques to help conserve hornbills in their countries, [including] transect surveys, tree climbing, repair and modification of natural nest holes, installation of artificial nest boxes.”
Yet the future of the HRF project in southern Thailand is precarious. Traditional forms of conservation funding, such as ecotourism, are limited in the area due to political unrest and associated safety and economic challenges. As a result, the HRF education program and villagers’ work as nest guardians depend on sustained funding via a nest adoption scheme, through which donors from around the world can “adopt” a hornbill nest for $150 annually and receive updates on its status.
Through the scheme, HRF is currently paying 30 local residents as nest guardians, but there’s little funding left over to support an education program.
Jiraporn said the paucity of local livelihood opportunities in the vicinity of the hornbill stronghold underscores the importance of focusing on educating the younger generation.
“Most young people move out of the area … to find a job,” she said. “But among young people who still live locally and have been through the conservation education program, they still say they would not hunt hornbills, even though it would be a way to make quick cash. This is why it’s important to keep this education program going.”
Carolyn Cowan is a staff writer for Mongabay. Follow her on 𝕏, @CarolynCowan11.
Banner image: A wreathed hornbill at its nesting cavity in a mature tree. Image by Aparajita Datta via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Citations:
Teampanpong, J., Da-ouli, N., Thiensongrusamee, P., Phongkieo, N. T., & Poonswad, P. (2024). Social determinants of success of community-based hornbill conservation in Thailand. Global Ecology and Conservation, 51, e02883. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e02883
Sriprasertsil, V., Da-ouli, N., Chootongkhum, C., Strange, B. C., Khamcha, D., Jinamoy, S., … Naniwadekar, R. (2024). Changes in endangered hornbill populations over space and time and potential ecological impacts in peninsular Thailand. Global Ecology and Conservation, 53, e03006. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03006
See related story:
New database unveils the role of Asian hornbills as forest seed dispersers
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