Overview

• Purnima Devi Barman led a day-long session on July 28 at the Ramsar-designated Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary, training 20 Cambodian women conservationists and park rangers.
• Participants adapted Assam’s women-led Hargila Army framework by integrating traditional ecological knowledge with scientific methods suited to local wetland ecosystems.
• A key outcome was the inauguration of the Sisters and Brothers of Storks, a new global alliance partnering with the Hargila Army to protect Greater Adjutants and other stork species.
• Local community members and park rangers unveiled educational posters designed by Barman that illustrate the Greater Adjutant’s behavioural ethogram to raise awareness.
• Organised by Cambodia’s Wildlife Conservation Society, the programme reinforced South-South cooperation and showcased women’s leadership as vital to biodiversity preservation.