First buffalo born in simple plan for Cambodia wetlands
A Cambodian family has received its first buffalo calf, born to a buffalo loaned to them by a Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) scheme to beat poverty and help the environment.
WWT's "buffalo bank" loans poor communities in the Mekong Delta working animals that provide milk and pulling power. Families will take it in turns to each keep a calf for themselves. The calf will also provide power and milk, and because they own it, families will also be able to use it as breeding stock, potential sales income of, if necessary, a source of meat. The idea is that WWT's "buffalo bank" will help to start up community-owned buffalo herds.
The environment benefits because buffalo graze and trample down invasive weeds that damage the Mekong wetlands. By helping to keep the wetlands healthy, the buffalo help to maintain a supply of clean water, freshwater fish for food, and also habitat for the sarus crane - the world's tallest crane species - whose population is declining rapidly as wetlands in southeast Asia disappear.
WWT's Tomos Avent said:
"Problems that affect wildlife also affect people. But the flip side is that sometimes you can find solutions that help both.
"This is really simple. By giving communities the start up capital of a WWT buffalo bank, they then have the means to improve their natural environment, on which themselves and local wildlife depend. Everyone wins."
"We're over the moon that a local family has received the first buffalo calf ahead of World Wetlands Day on February 2nd, which is designed to highlight exactly this sort of clever idea."
The buffalo bank is just one way WWT is helping local communities in the Boeng Prek Lapouv and Anlung Pring areas of the Mekong Delta. WWT is using the wetland creation skills it's employed to create reserves like Slimbridge and the London Wetland Centre to repair damaged wetlands in Cambodia. It's also helping people to tackle poaching and illegal farming, and to self-police community fishing agreements which ensure a sustainable supply of fish and plants into the future.
Tomos Avent added:
"Projects like this are great because it's actually the local people who are identifying their own problems and coming up with their own solutions. Sometimes they just need a bit of experienced advice and support, which is what WWT is able to give. It's lovely to think that the support of WWT's members visiting our wetlands in the UK is helping people to stand on their own two feet and help themselves, wetlands and wildlife on the other side of the world."
