Stewart's Blog:
Indonesian Parrot ProjectIndonesia
Project Description: IPP is an NGO (formed in 1989 as Project Bird Watch). Its mission is the conservation of endangered Indonesian parrots using a multi-factorial approach; each approach is predicated upon the needs and active participation of the major stakeholders--the villagers of the region. Although the approaches are neither limited to one genus or species, the flagship species of our Program is the Salmon-crested (Seram) cockatoo, Cacatua moluccensis. Among the approaches are emphases on: 1] increasing Pride and Awareness in the local avifauna and teaching steps to conserve them, a program aimed especially at schoolchildren; 2) finding alternative, sustainable sources of income for local trappers to replace bird poaching; and 3) building and maintaining an Avian Rehabilitation Center on North Seram Island, from which highly selected parrots, which had been confiscated from smugglers by local authorities, can be released back into the wild. Recently, we have begun a program to conserve the abbotti race of Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, of which only 10 individuals survive in the wild on tiny Masakambing Island.
