Villagers living around the Budo mountain range, which forms the northern part of Budo Sungai Padi National Park in Narathiwat province, have good reason to be proud of the rainforest that surrounds them. Home to six species of the majestic Asian hornbill, the forest offers a rich habitat to the endangered birds. To ensure the forest remains that way, volunteers from 13 villages have been working with the Hornbill Research Team of Mahidol University.
Twenty years ago Prof Pilai Poonswad, head of the hornbill research team, heard that the hornbill population in the Budo Mountains was seriously threatened by illegal poaching. Pilai travelled to Narathiwat and met Nimu Rayowkari, an influential villager and the premier hornbill chick poacher. Nimu was naturally apprehensive of these outsiders who spoke of conservation — and who bluntly told him that his descendants would not be able to see these beautiful birds in this forest for themselves because of people like him.
It took time to convince the poacher, but eventually Nimu realised that Pilai and her team were correct, and that their cause was truly to save hornbills from extinction. This triggered in Nimu the start of a journey that would transform him into a conservationist.
Pilai's team and the villagers came to an agreement to implement two programmes. The first would hire village volunteers — most of who were former hornbill poachers — to look after hornbill nests. They would create a nest location database, repair nest cavities and monitor chick fledging.
The second programme would educate schoolchildren on forest conservation, hornbill biology and the ways in which the birds contribute to reforestation — the goal being to convince the students' villager parents of the benefits of conservation. As hornbill reproduction depends on numbers of high quality nests, village volunteers were trained in the techniques of tree climbing and repairing damaged nest cavities. From all nests monitored during the project's 20 years, the total number of fledged chicks reached an impressive figure — 617. The Hornbill Research Foundation, which manages the Budo Hornbill Conservation & Education Project, receives financial support from individual donors who contribute to hornbill preservation by adopting hornbill nests.
These donors then receive periodic nest activity reports.
In February, I had the privilege to attend the first "Love Hornbills Day" to commemorate the Budo hornbill project, organised by the Mahidol team, the Budo villagers and Budo Sungai Padi National Park chief Somchai Siriumakul.
The fair was held at the national park's headquarters and chaired by Narathiwat governor Nattapong Sirichana amid tight security provided by army personnel, as the area is considered high risk.
The governor declared the endangered helmeted hornbill to be Narathiwat's official logo. At the fair, attended by hundreds of children from "hornbill" villages, Pilai was certainly the most recognisable figure present. He was greeted like a member of the Budo family by teachers, schoolchildren and villagers, including 69 year-old Nimu, who was all smiles.
I was walking with Pilai at the fair when a young man ran up to greet her. He was one of the children she met years ago. Now he is a university student, manning his own booth in which children drew animals and trees. The young man explained that his booth encouraged children to protect nature and the environment, as taught in the Koran.
In a region beset by violence, the survival of the hornbills may symbolise a touch of hope. With the support of individual donors, the hornbill project will continue to operate in the rainforest of Budo — and continue to enable hornbills to breed in greater numbers in their natural habitat, thereby increasing their chances of long-term survival.
An Asian hornbill.
