While breeding in the dry season (October-April/May) it inhabits wetlands, nesting in tall trees with closed canopies and bamboo clumps around nesting trees, and historically on cliffs. Breeding is thought to coincide with the dry season in order to take advantage of abundant prey as water levels recede (Singha et al. 2003). In north-east India, it occurs close to and within urban areas (A. Choudhury in litt. 2016), feeding around wetlands in the breeding season, and dispersing to scavenge at rubbish dumps, abattoirs and burial grounds at other times. In Cambodia, it breeds in freshwater flooded forest and areas of dry forest with ephemeral pools, otherwise dispersing to seasonally inundated forest, carcass dumps, tall wet grassland, mangroves and intertidal flats. It generally inhabits the lowlands but is occasionally found up to 1,500 m (Elliott and Kirwan 2020).

This species has undergone a catastrophic range contraction since the 19th century, with extant breeding populations in only India and Cambodia. Historically, it had a distribution that spanned much of continental South and South-East Asia, from Pakistan (where it was a non-breeding, but regular, visitor), through much of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR and Viet Nam, in all of which it, presumably, at one time bred, albeit with varying degrees of evidence to back up this assertion (BirdLife International 2001). From all of these latter named states, the species is now assumed extirpated, with any recent records almost certainly wanderers from elsewhere (giving rise to optimism about future colonisation if threats can be adequately mitigated). In India, all birds are now confined to Assam and Bisar (see Population Size justification). In Cambodia, it is now confined to only Prek Toal, having been extirpated from Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary in 2013 due to forest clearance.

Conservation Actions Underway
Both subpopulations for this species are conservation dependent and the persistence of this species is therefore reliant on well-funded community-based conservation; if this ceases, the species is very likely to decline and its extinction risk will increase once more. In India, the community work of P. D. Barman is directly responsible for the change of fortunes in this species: The project was initiated in 2007 and combined community development, education and outreach; in particular, the work bestowed a pride and ownership for the storks by the villagers, including a (now large) group of rural woman named the 'Hargila Army' who the project sought to empower to protect adjutant nests and help their economic livelihoods (see Barman et al. 2020 for more detailed summary). In particular, the project supported the sewing of traditional textiles, especially the gamosa (a traditional Assamese scarf) which are decorated with stork motifs and both sold and gifted to raise awareness. Critically, the project has deliberately avoided the use of direct economic payments to protect nests, but rather has relied (successfully) on providing economic opportunities for local people. The conservation program has also invested heavily in the education of children and students, reaching and educating 12,000 school children in its first 12 years (Barman et al. 2020). This project has seen the population of nesting Greater Adjutants in Assam increase rapidly (Barman et al. 2020, P. Barman in litt. 2023); the next planned phase of the program is the 'Hargila Dream: 5,000 storks by 2030'. This phase aims to increase the number of Greater Adjutants in north-east India to 5,000 birds by 2030, but the success of this project will rely on appropriate resourcing and funding by donors, and support from policy makers. The continued recovery of this species in north-east India will likely rely on the success of this project.
Similar successes have been achieved in Cambodia, where the protection on the Prek Toal colony (in the Tonle Sap Great Lake RAMSAR site) has caused the number of breeding birds to increase from fewer than 50 pairs in the early 2000s (BirdLife International 2001) to more than 200 breeding pairs in 2021 (Timmins et al. in press). This recovery has been driven by the protection of breeding birds at Prek Toal, with the species no longer breeding anywhere else in South-East Asia. This scheme has achieved success by employing round-the-clock monitoring provided by a team of rangers—including former poachers and egg robbers—to increase breeding productivity; this work has been supported logistically and technically by WCS.

Conservation Actions Proposed
The most important conservation action for this species is ensuring that the currently operating conservation programmes in India and Cambodia are continued. Although this species is currently not considered at imminent risk of extinction, this status is dependent on conservation and will likely quickly deteriorate if these projects do not continue to be appropriately resourced. This species' population size is likely <1% of what it was two centuries ago; its occupied range is probably an even lower percentage. Accordingly, there is the great potential for future recovery. In India, the 'Hargila Dream: 5,000 storks by 2030' project provides an achievable target with a proven track record of increasing adjutant populations; this should be prioritised and expanded in neighbouring areas. In South-East Asia, the greatest risk to this species is provided by the fact that the entire breeding population is now at Prek Toal, a site that continues to be subject to numerous threats (e.g. Morovati et al. 2023). In addition to mitigating these (particularly preventing further damage to the broader Tonle Sap landscape), establishing a breeding population elsewhere should be considered a priority. A species action/recovery plan should be developed to best evaluate the ideas discussed here to enable this species to inhabit a greater percentage of its former range. In neighbouring Lao PDR, where this species was once presumably widespread through the country's lowlands (Duckworth et al. 1999), there is suitable habitat for breeding and foraging birds, with hunting probably the only obstacle to recolonisation (Timmins et al. in press). Surveys to determine whether birds are already occasionally visiting southernmost Lao PDR are needed, as is effective community engagement and education so that the establishing of breeding colonies is possible. Sites near the Cambodian/Lao PDR border (for example, Dong Khanthung) should be prioritised. In Thailand, wetland bird populations have (partially) recovered in the past twenty years (P. Round pers. comm.) and this country should also be considered a priority for population and range expansion over the next decade. Here, hunting is a less pervasive problem than Lao PDR and may therefore prove itself a more realistic and immediate possibility. Identifying sites and means of attracting birds to breed should be undertaken; sites close to the Cambodian border should be prioritised to facilitate natural recolonisation. The conservation status of this species remains precarious and its current Near Threatened status relies on the continued generating of good data: robust monitoring must therefore also continue.