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Birds nest boom
Indonesias efforts to supply delicacies to China are evolving in surprising directions
Craig Thorburn
Indonesia is a major
supplier of exotic
ingredients for
Chinese
connoisseurs, the
best known being
sea cucumber,
shark fin and edible
birds nest. Edible
birds nest, made
from the hardened
saliva of cave-
dwelling swiftlets, is
one of the most
expensive animal
products consumed
by humans,
sometimes referred
to as the caviar of
the East.
Swiftlets - a type of
small swift - are
native to the Indo-
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Birds nest boom
Indonesias efforts to supply delicacies to
China are evolving in surprising directions
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Some nest houses are attractive, others are ugly, but all affect humans and birds
alike Nick Long
Pacific region,
reaching their
greatest diversity in
Southeast Asia. All
swiftlet species use
saliva cement
secreted from
glands under their
tongue as binding
material to build
their nests. White-
nest swiftlets of the
genus Aerodramus
construct their nests
entirely of saliva, and
it is these nests that
are the most highly
prized. Indonesia is
home to an
estimated 80 per
cent of the global
population of wild
edible-nest swiftlets.
The international trade in birds nest dates back to at least the 16th century, possibly much earlier.
Demand has soared since the 1980s, generated by the burgeoning middle and wealthy classes in China. While
demand was met previously by harvesting from cave nesting sites, the rising market has led to a new practice of
raising the birds in purpose-built nesting houses, often multi-story windowless buildings with small openings
through which the swiftlets enter to make their nests. These nesting houses, often built in urban areas, are
controversial because of the noise they generate and their potential to spread disease.
The caviar of the East
Birds nest soup is not especially appetising, requiring the addition of chicken broth or sugar to give it at least a
little appeal. As with many other Chinese delicacies, however, it is not the flavour that generates consumer
demand, but rather its purported health benefits. The elixir is reputed to possess medicinal properties that
nourish and vitalise the organ systems of the body, help to increase energy and metabolism, dissolve phlegm,
improve the voice, relieve gastric problems, aid kidney function, enhance complexion, alleviate asthma,
suppress cough, cure tuberculosis, strengthen the immune system and improve concentration.
Whether these health benefits are real or imagined, edible birds nest is a very expensive commodity. A single
bowl of soup sells for as much as A$30 and a kilogram of well-formed white nests fetches between A$2000 and
A$3000. Prices surged upward in the mid-1980s, due to declining nest supplies from traditional sources and the
rising affluence of an emerging consumer society in China. The international trade in birds nest is estimated to
exceed 210 tons per annum, worth upwards of A$1.6 billion. Around three quarters of nests traded come from
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Indonesia.
Harvesting the nests
Harvesting swiftlet nests from traditional nesting sites is a dangerous occupation. Collectors scale flimsy
bamboo scaffolding to heights in excess of 60 metres to scrape the nests from the rock face using simple tools,
while their partners wait below to collect the nests as they fall. In some locations, such as the famous Niah and
Gomantong Caves in Borneo, intricate property rights systems, enforced by government statutes, regulate the
harvest of nests. In East Java, the location of nest-bearing caves is a closely guarded secret.
Despite efforts to manage the harvest, over-exploitation has occurred in many locations, leading ecologists to
worry that the trade will cause the extinction of some swiftlet populations. A few such cases have been
documented, such as in the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal, where endemic swiftlet
colonies are either extinct or critically endangered. Commenting on the decline of swiftlet populations in the Niah
caves in Sarawak, an environmental anthropologist noted that as recently as the 1990s people visiting the caves
would cover themselves with a plastic bag to prevent bird droppings from soiling their hair and clothes. The
plastic bags would be white with droppings when they left the cave. The birds noise prevented people from
talking to each other even if they were only a few metres apart. Today, however, the caves appear empty and
quiet.
In 1994, concern over the consequences of over-harvesting led Italy to propose adding edible-nest swiftlets to
Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. An
Appendix II listing does not prevent international trade, but does require its regulation and verification that the
trade is not detrimental to wild populations. The proposal was withdrawn in the face of opposition from
Indonesia and other Southeast Asian nations, and a technical workshop was organised instead.
House farming
By that time, a new form of production was making its appearance. The business of raising swiftlets in purpose-
built buildings that mimic cave conditions is booming across Southeast Asia, transforming the skyline of towns
and cities across the region. In Indonesia, towns such as Kisaran in North Sumatra, Kumai in Central
Kalimantan and Sungai Liat in Banka Belitung have become known as swiftlet cities, with whole
neighbourhoods dominated by blocky windowless three and four-storey swiftlet houses. The din of amplified
birdcalls broadcast from the entrances of these buildings can be deafening.
The practice of rearing swiftlets in buildings is thought to have begun in the village of Sedayu near Malang, East
Java, in the 1980s. Sedayu is located near limestone cliffs that are dotted with caves. Given the swiftlets
propensity to nest in rock shelters or caves, it is not surprising that some birds build nests in man-made
structures such as culverts, go-downs or even houses. When this occurred, it was considered good fortune, or a
blessing, and little was done to improve the conditions of the buildings to attract or suit the needs of the birds.
Some time later, entrepreneurs in Java
began to alter buildings and even
construct special structures to induce
swiftlets to nest. Swiftlets have a high
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LATEST COMMENTS
1 WEEK AGO
Actually Ben, it's not only China that is driving
global demand for these products, but other
countries ...
CREIGHTON CONNOLLY - BIRDS NEST BOOM
2 WEEKS AGO
So sad - Indonesia does not value it's treasures.
Instead it allows government officials to make ...
JO - MINING PARADISE
3 WEEKS AGO
Great article. Sad situation. What was the
Supreme Court's verdict on March 20? Hope
people start ...
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4 WEEKS AGO
Novel Pulang looks worth to read...
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Tiny birds' nests such as this one are a valuable commodity Glenn
Hurowitz
degree of nest site fidelity; breeding
pairs return to the same site to build
new nests, and chicks often return to
the cave where they were fledged to
make their own nests. At some point,
growers discovered that the more
common Glossy or Cave Swiftlets
made good foster parents, and would
hatch and rear chicks from eggs of
house-farmed swiftlets placed in their
nests. This hastened the
establishment of new self-sustaining
colonies of white-nest swiftlets.
The house-farming business really
boomed in the 1990s and 2000s and
spread rapidly from Java to Sumatra
and Kalimantan, as well as to Malaysia,
southern Thailand and Vietnam. A lively
trade in associated products and
services developed. Farmers used
amplified broadcasts of recorded
swiftlet calls to attract birds to their buildings. The internet was soon crowded with sites advertising CDs of
birdcalls; custom sound systems; building location, design and refitting services; and an array of scents, bio-
agents and appliances designed to induce the birds to choose your building as their nesting place. A trade in
white-nest swiftlet eggs also developed at this time, giving rise to concern among ecologists that the Javan
subspecies could replace native populations in other regions.
Numerous factors contributed to the industrys rapid growth in Indonesia. Plunging exchange rates made export
commodities much more lucrative. The economic collapse of 1997-98 left thousands of newly-constructed
shops and residential estates vacant; many of these were converted to swiftlet houses with only minor
modifications. When President Suharto stepped down, many monopolies held by family members including
trade in swiftlet nests were terminated, thereby rendering the enterprises immediately more profitable for
producers.
But ecological factors were also at work. Practitioners on both sides of the Straits of Malacca claim that flocks of
birds began appearing after the catastrophic fires of 1997-98 that consumed over eight million hectares of forest
in Kalimantan and Sumatra, suggesting habitat destruction was driving the birds out in search of new homes.
But whether or not this is the best explanation for the migration, it is important to recognise the swiftlets own role
in driving the expansion. House-farmed swiftlets have lower nest site fidelity compared to their wild progenitors,
allowing populations to disperse more quickly and colonise new areas.
Regulating the nest trade
To date, the house-nest industry has been fairly unregulated. Some towns more in Malaysia than in Indonesia
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have instituted noise and aesthetic regulations. In 2010, the Malaysian Ministry of Agriculture issued national
guidelines on swiftlet farming known as 1GP, stipulating a minimum distance of swiftlet houses from residential
premises, and basic standards for sanitation and ventilation, much like national regulations on poultry farming.
Indonesia, to date, has no such regulations.
The biggest regulatory shock to the industry has come from China, the ultimate destination of most nests.
Perhaps prompted by health concerns related to the consumption of tainted nests, in August 2011 China banned
the import of swiftlet nests from Malaysia and Indonesia. Prices for raw nests plummeted by as much as 70 per
cent, causing huge losses for many new investors. In the ensuing negotiations, the Chinese government has
insisted that exporting countries put in place enforceable standards on the nitrate content of nests, establish
registered quarantine facilities routinely inspected by Chinese government agents, and institute sophisticated
tracking systems that allow Chinese inspectors and consumers to know the provenance and processing history
of each individual nest. Both the Indonesian and Malaysian governments have signed Memoranda of
Understanding with the Chinese aimed at restoring the lucrative trade. To date, only a handful of Malaysian firms
have succeeded in passing the certification process to begin legally exporting to China. No Indonesian
companies have yet been successful.
Meanwhile, producers are scrambling to develop new products and markets to offset the downturn in exports to
China. Various ready-to-drink health tonics are appearing in supermarkets across the region, and the benefits of
swiftlet nests are increasingly being promoted to domestic consumers. As a result, the caviar of the East, once
an exclusive delicacy enjoyed only by royalty and the very wealthy, is becoming a mass-produced tonic of Asias
growing middle class.
Domestication and speciation
But it is not just the industry and the market that are transforming. The growth of the house farming industry may
also be leading to the emergence of an entirely new species of swiftlet.
Swiftlets hatched in buildings, it seems, will build their own nests in buildings. There are no confirmed instances
of domestic house-farmed swiftlets establishing colonies in caves even in areas where there are an
abundance of natural caves where house-farms have been established. Contrary to the notion that wild
populations are fleeing habitat destruction and moving into nest-houses, it appears that we are witnessing the
expansion of a new sub-type: the house-farmed swiftlet. In areas where the practice of house farming has only
recently been established, researchers are finding that the occupants of house farms are phenotypically and
genetically similar to house-farmed birds from Java, Sumatra or peninsular Malaysia, as opposed to native
populations living in nearby caves or islands. It is still unclear whether cross-breeding is taking place between
wild and house-farmed populations. But some biologists are proposing that the house-farmed swiftlets
represent a new species based on their behaviour of nesting only in buildings, the high degree of morphological
similarity between them, and the fact that house-farmed and native swiftlet populations rarely mix, even in
common activity spaces.
In other words, we are witnessing the latest episode of domestication. The relationship between house-farmed
swiftlets and humans is somewhat different than our relationship with the family dog or farm animals, as the
swiftlets still range freely and seek their own food. But as with other forms of domestication, human partners
have increasingly managed the target species to acquire particular use values, increased security and
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0
+2
predictability of access. The domesticate, in turn, gains increased reproductive fitness and range expansion. As
with so many other examples from the history of domestication, the question remains, Who is domesticating
whom? Ever since pioneering populations of white-nest swiftlets first trained humans to construct excellent
caves and keep them free of predators, their population and range has expanded dramatically. Whereas the
desirability and high price of the nests once threatened the reproductive success of individual breeding pairs and
endangered some colonies, this new co-evolutionary partnership is producing benefits for bird and human alike.
Craig Thorburn (Craig.Thorburn@monash.edu) is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography and
Environmental Science, Monash University.
Inside Indonesia 116: Apr-Jun 2014
Environment: Environment (other) Agriculture Endangered Species
Economy: Agriculture
Comments
MON 26 MAY 2014 02:17 PM
Actually Ben, it's not only China that is driving global demand for these products, but other countries in the
region like Vietnam, Japan, Hong Kong, etc. As well as some parts of the Middle East. In fact, most of these
countries have actually made considerable progress in reducing their consumption of such products in
recent years. China is one of the most notable examples, where there are now widespread public media
campaigns which use celebrities like Yao Ming and Zhang Zi Yi to sway the public away from such habits of
'conspicuous consumption'. Even the government has banned the consumption of these products at official
banquets and events to set an example for the rest of the populace.
CREIGHTON CONNOLLY
MON 21 APRIL 2014 02:49 PM
Interesting. The only disagreement I have is with the author's use of the word "connoisseur" in the first
sentence - let's be politically incorrect, and state what's true: the Chinese demand for such products as shark
fin (manta ray gills, tiger bones, and more, much more) will drive these animals to extinction. They're not
"connoisseurs" any more than is a pig in a pen - they're the rapists of the Earth.
BEN MILER
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