Justification

This pigeon has a small, declining, severely fragmented population owing to destruction of its evergreen forest habitat and hunting. It therefore qualifies as Vulnerable.

Threats

Its decline is mainly the result of habitat loss and fragmentation owing to commercial logging, small-scale timber collection, and clearance of mangroves and evergreen forests for plantation agriculture, cash-crops, charcoal production and shifting cultivation. It also suffers high levels of hunting for food, whilst trade poses an additional, minor threat.

Conservation

Although it has been recorded from numerous protected areas, their contribution to its conservation is not known, especially given its seasonal and nomadic movements. Indeed, site-based conservation strategies are unlikely to be successful unless populations are able to follow seasonal patterns of fruit-ripening within secure protected sites.

Targets

*Conduct further surveys, particularly in Myanmar, to clarify its current distribution, seasonal movements and population status. *Conduct research into its ecological requirements and the relative effects of various threats operating across its range. *Identify and protect, where appropriate, sites supporting key populations. *Promote improved management and establish/increase buffer zones around protected areas supporting key populations. *Enforce strict hunting controls within all protected areas and devise awareness campaigns to reduce pigeon hunting wherever this is possible.