Pilai Poonswad has been chased by elephants, come face to face with tigers and managed to turn poachers and loggers into environmentalists. That's a lot to go through just to protect some birds.

"I can't let down those who have faith in me," the biology professor at Mahidol University avers, and among those who have recently applauded her lifelong commitment to saving hornbills are the administrators of the 2006 Rolex Awards for Enterprise.

"My team and I have a strong determination to ensure a good natural environment, with abundant forests, clean water and pure air," Pilai says. "The result will be better mental health for everyone."

And the hornbill's survival, she believes, is the place to start.

The Prachuab Khiri Khan native first encountered a hornbill in 1967 in Khao Yai National Park. The sight of this majestic bird trigged an ambition to get it off the endangered list.

The peril facing the hornbill - which has a wingspan of almost two metres - stems from its unique breeding habits. It must find a hollow in the trunk or branch of a specific kind of tree, at least 15 metres above the ground.

In this the female is walled in with mud and feeds on regurgitated food brought by her mate, and she'll lay three eggs, just one of which will hatch.

The male feeds must ensure a food supply for both mother and chick for the next three months - up to 80 different kinds of fruit.

The seeds of the fruit will in the process be scattered over many hectares of forest, and thus the hornbill is pivotal in its environment's health.

But the birds rarely spread the seeds of the trees in which they nest, so they're not helping their own specific habitat. Should the trees disappear, the hornbills will too.

Recognised as a world authority on Asian hornbills, Pilai established the Hornbill Research Foundation to raise funds for the study and protection of the birds. Thailand is home to 13 of Asia's 31 species.

"We need to work out the interactions of other forest plants and animals, establish a database on natural resources, and encourage biologists to repeat this programme for other species," she says.

Pilai's personal charisma has helped get her as far as she is. She's been able to turn formerly hostile villagers into her collaborators.

Her current project is at Budo-Sungai Padi in Narathiwat, where there are poachers and illegal loggers, as well as the odd Muslim separatist. Pilai is a Buddhist and an urban academic, and her proposals for changes in the way things work aren't always received with smiles.

"The magic word is 'children'," she says. "I tell them that if they continue destroying the forest, one day their children will dig up their bones and curse them for what they did.

"And the headman says, 'That's true.' So the villagers have participated and supported the research."

Pilai credits another share of her success to the introduction of an adoption scheme. City families can "adopt" their own hornbill nest, and Pilai says the idea has brought about remarkable changes in community attitudes towards conservation.

"After the economic crisis in 1997, our funding was cut and I was thinking of ways to raise money. I promoted the adopt-a-hornbill plan, in which supporters pay around Bt4,800 a year for villagers to protect a nest. In return they receive regular reports and pictures of 'their' birds."

The contributions have protected more than 100 nests over the past 10 years, and help the research continue. The villagers, too, have responded generously, donating land for an ecology-education centre.

Pilai isn't one to "nest" on her laurels. A crucial triumph came when her scrutiny of the nests led to the creation of an artificial nest.

Chakorn Phasukwan, a

professor at Silpakorn University, designed a nest of fibreglass that could be hung in the forest canopy.

"With their enormous beaks, hornbills can't make a hole in the tree themselves - they have to find a ready-made hollow. So we're attaching new homes for them to the trees.

"The big moment came after hours of anxious waiting, when a pair of birds finally checked out the nest and decided to live there," Pilai recalls. "Can you imagine how wonderful that was?"

Pilai is effusive in her appreciation for the support she's received, mentioning Mahidol and Silapakorn and well as Chulalongkorn and Kasetsart universities, Biotec, the Royal Forestry Department and the private sector.

The Rolex Award for Enterprise represents another Bt3.8-million contribution over several years. Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so through the Hornbill Research Foundation's account at the Siam Commercial Bank's Ramathibodi branch, No 026-2-75910-2.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation