The IUCN-Critically Endangered Yellow-crested Cockatoo was added to CITES Appendix I in 2005 after years of indiscriminate trapping and large-scale logging drove wild populations to critical levels, with over 80% of the population disappearing. These threats continue, along with the risk of disease and persecution. Subspecies sulphurea and abbotti (the latter with only 10 birds seen in 2008) are the most endangered.

The WPT supported surveys of subspecies parvula that found 695 cockatoos in Komodo National Park in 2015, up from 558 in 2010, counts on Moyo and Sumbawa islands that in 2016 and 2017 found that numbers were stable, collaborations with local officials of the Nature Conservation Agency Indonesia and community groups to spread awareness in communities, and training sessions on birdwatching and tour guiding to benefit local communities. Efforts also included supporting wild birds by installing and monitoring nest boxes on Moyo Island with help from the local community, researching current trade and trafficking routes across Indonesia and monitoring the wild population. The WPT’s focus beginning in 2023 shifts to protecting and repopulating Yellow-crested Cockatoos (sulphurea and abbotti) in South Sulawesi.