Indira Lacerna-Widmann is the Chief Operations Officer of the Katala Foundation in the Philippines. The Foundation is named after the local name of the Philippine Cockatoo, 'Katala'. The Philippine Cockatoo is a relative of the corellas and are about the size of a pigeon. The cockatoo is threatened by habitat loss, poaching and trapping for pets.
The current wild population in the Philippines is estimated between to be 822 and 1,280 individuals.
Poachers are being turned from criminals to wildlife-lovers thanks to captive breeding programs. Citizen scientists are training both prisoners and ex-convicts to be able to reach out to identify, monitor and protect nest trees.
"It's one of the most imaginative citizen science projects that I think I've ever come across", says the Director of the Centre for Ecological Studies in the Philippines.