Forest Fires and Logging Threaten Five Orchid Species
11/9/97
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Headline: Forest Fires and Logging Threaten Five Orchid Species
Source: Agence France-Presse
Date: 11/9/97
Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
JAKARTA, Nov 10 (AFP) - Forest fires and illegal logging in
Indonesia are threatening the survival of five of the 150 types of
orchids found on the eastern Indonesian islands of Maluku, reports
said here Monday.
"From the 150 species of orchids in Maluku, five are threatened
with extinction," Lenny Assegaf, the chairperson of the Indonesian
Orchid Lovers, was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.
Assegaf called for the local government and forest concession
holders to support efforts to save the orchids from extinction.
Antara listed the Latin name of only four of the five endangered
species: Dendrobium Anytenatum, Gramathopylum Seriptum,
Vandahookeriana, and Dendrobium Verativalium.
The fifth was only identified by its local name, Anggrek
Tongkeng.
Forests and ground fires in Indonesia this year razed up to 1.7
million hectares (4.2 million acres), Indonesia's leading
environmental watchdog Walhi has estimated.
Indonesia has some 143 million hectares (353.4 million acres) of
forest, including 49 million hectares (121 million acres) in
protected areas.
Critics here and abroad have accused Indonesia's legal and
illegal logging and other development projects of depleting the
country's forests at a rate of 900,000 hectares (2.2 million acres)
a year.