--- title: Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business | TIME description: Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business canonical: https://time.com/video/c1FTUXs0/ og:title: Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business og:description: Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business og:url: https://time.com/video/c1FTUXs0/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/c1FTUXs0/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business twitter:description: Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/c1FTUXs0/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business [Watch (HLS stream): Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/c1FTUXs0.m3u8) (4:32)  _Published 2015-12-24. Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business_ --- Jul 27, 2023 7:22 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Exclusive Clip from Caroll Spinney Documentary "I Am Big Bird"](/video/fMzoPGAO/) ### Exclusive Clip from Caroll Spinney Documentary "I Am Big Bird" [The Edible Bird's Nest Trade](/video/q4hL2jN7/) ### The Edible Bird's Nest Trade [Alice Waters on Edible Education](/video/BRkbfoQ5/) ### Alice Waters on Edible Education --- ## Transcript Rain falls over Borneo and thousands of swiftlets dart toward their underground homes. A distant cousin of the swallow, the swiftlet has no peers when it comes to nesting. Instead of collecting twigs, it produces a cement like secretion to build nests high up on cave walls. Few predators reach them here. However, humans do. It's harvest in [ UNKNOWN ] Cave, one of the most bountiful swiftlet habitats in Southeast Asia. Over the course of 11 days a team of workers will empty the walls of over a ton of nests. The nests will then be cleaned, packaged, and shipped off to China where they are in high demand for their supposed medicinal properties. For centuries, the Chinese have served swiftlet nests in soups and desserts, or dissolved them into rejuvenating tonics. It's an expensive habit, since the nests are so inaccessible. Rare nests can fetch a couple of hundred US dollars, causing some to call them the caviar of the east. As the Chinese middle class has grown, demand for the product has skyrocketed, mounting serious pressure on swiftlet colonies. Theft, corruption, and over harvesting have completely eradicated the bird populations in some caves. In other caves, tribal management maintains a sustainable trade. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] The Edehan tribe has built a whole community around Medai cave on northeastern Borneo [ SOUND ] For hundreds of years, inhabitants have inherited a portion of the cave that they are allowed to harvest. And village elders keep track of the logs. [ FOREIGN ] Every ten years, we switch around, so people get to pick in a different area. [ FOREIGN ] Because of all the squabbling, it's important to know the history and everyone's lineage. With demand high, business should be booming. But in fact, prices have plummeted, and the Idahan are finding it more difficult to make ends meet. Across the southeast Asian subcontinent, buildings are modified to simulate cave habitats and equipped with sound systems to attract avian tenants. Swift lit farms have become a huge industry, and their nests now dwarf the cave variety. Because of their cheaper price, farm nests have become popular among the middle class. And haven't suffered that much from new Chinese restrictions on luxury products. Farmers also contend that their nests are healthier. Since they can maintain the clean habitat for the birds. This is becoming increasingly important in China. Where scandal involving contaminated nests in 2011 has caused the country to introduce strict laws governing the product. Environmentalists worry about how these mushrooming urban bird populations may effect the ecosystem and if they will lead to increased risk of avian diseases. So far, however, almost no research is being done on the possible ecological and veterinary impacts of the multi- billion dollar industry of swiftlet farming. 72- year- old Zacharria Bendrugi has already collected his last nest. After 59 years in the profession His children have told him to consider the risks and stop. The August harvesting Moncton was his last. Still, Sacarea passionately prescribes his line of work. [ FOREIGN ] If any of my grandchildren would like to work in the caves too, I would happily support them, he says. Nest collectors face an uncertain future. If consumers are willing to continue to pay a premium for their products, and the harvests are sustainably managed, they may be around for hundreds of years more. If the current development accelerates though. The wild swiflets, may soon be left alone in their cavernous homes across Southeast Asia. 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