A short film about the “Srov Met Kriel” sarus crane project – a conservation initiative which encourages and supports wildlife-friendly farming – was unveiled on May 10 to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day 2025.

The launch was made by the Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with Natural Life in Cambodia (NLC), with the support of BirdLife International and the Mandai Nature Foundation.

It was produced to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day 2025, this year themed: “Shared Spaces: Creating Bird-Friendly Cities and Communities”.

The six-minute film illustrates the successes and challenges that have emerged during the pat three years of the project’s implementation, especially the promotion of community participation and efforts to conserve migratory birds, including cranes, explained a joint press release.

World Migratory Bird Day is held twice each year, in May and October. It seeks to raise awareness of the need to conserve migratory birds and their habitats. People, representatives, organisations and stakeholders around the world celebrate the day, and it promotes international cooperation.

NatureLife Cambodia director Bou Vorsak said that after three years of testing work, the positive results of the project had greatly encouraged their efforts.

“We aim to expand this project to achieve greater accomplishments in the conservation of cranes and the livelihoods of the communities”, he said, adding that “We encourage the public to watch the film and learn about what we have done and how they can support us in a sustainable manner.”

Environment ministry spokesperson Khvay Atitya congratulated the project on its success. He noted that the ministry has been working hard to conserve natural resources in collaboration with partners, especially local communities, for example, in the conservation of cranes.

“The project has improved the living standards of the people, contributed to the prevention of pollution, reduced the use of chemical fertilisers, and provided additional food sources for cranes”, he said.

The farmers who participate in the project grow high-quality rice, using methods which ensure the survival of the endangered sarus cranes. NatureLife Cambodia

He encouraged the public to buy rice from the crane-friendly project to support the farmers, as well as to protect and conserve sarus cranes for future generations.

The sarus crane (Antigone antigone sharpie), a large and beautiful species of waterfowl, were once common across Southeast Asia, but their numbers have declined significantly in recent decades.

The cranes are classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List. In Cambodia, cranes nest in the northern and eastern highlands and migrate to the lower Mekong delta of Cambodia and Vietnam and the Tonle Sap floodplains in the off-season every year.

In the 2024 national census, just 178 cranes recorded in the Kingdom. Researchers have shown an alarming decline in crane population over the past decade due to rising mortality rates and declining fertility.

The project was initiated in 2019 at the Anlung Pring Landscape Protection Area in Kampot province’s Kampong Trach district to promote agriculture and biodiversity, by helping to protect the habitat and food sources of the cranes, as well as to improve the livelihoods of local communities.

It has done so by reducing the use of chemical fertilisers and protecting the ecosystem of wetlands. By 2025, the project's cultivated area had expanded to more than 185 hectares.

The establishment of this project comes after the death of 10 cranes in 2018. An examination of the dead birds determined that they were poisoned by chemical fertiliser or improperly stored chemical waste.

The video can be viewed here: ​https://shorturl.at/mIrwo