Editing Lesser adjutant (section)

==Conservation==
The Lesser Adjutants were moved from "Least Concern" to "Vulnerable" in 2020, but this reclassification was based nearly entirely by assumptions that were based on surveys in forested areas. The assumptions asserted that the species was  relatively rare, and that it was affected to their detriment by agricultural expansions.<ref name=":0" /> Subsequent work in South Asia, that has been far more detailed and nuanced, with analyses covering robust colony-level and landscape-level evaluations, have shown these assumptions to be incorrect and likely part of generic assumptions that appear to be overlaid on all agricultural areas and birds by scientists in developed countries.<ref name="gopi2016" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":6" /> Like for many other large waterbirds, the south-east Asian populations of Lesser Adjutant storks appear to be greatly at risk due to a combination of hunting and habitat destruction.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goes |first=F. |title=The Birds of Cambodia: An Annotated Checklist |publisher=Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, Fauna and Flora International Cambodia Programme and Royal University of Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh. |year=2013 |location=Cambodia}}</ref> Subsequently, additional research has shown their population sizes to be much higher than previous estimates that were based on guesses. The assertion that this species was declining rapidly was also found to be incorrect given the high breeding success and large number of breeding colonies documented across lowland Nepal. Subsequently, the conservation status of the species was downlisted to "Near Threatened" to more appropriate reflect evidence.