Govt push to trade rare orchids

The Nation, Bangkok's Independent Newspaper
http://nationmultimedia.com/page.new...6030&usrsess=1
Published on Jun 24, 2004


Thailand will ask the international wildlife secretariat to pull hybrid, jade and crown of thorns orchids from its list of species
under controlled trade, a senior official said yesterday.

The request will be made at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species for Wild Fauna and Flora
(Cites), being in Bangkok in October. It is aimed at allowing Thailand to promote these flowers for export, the official said.

Hybrid, jade and crown of thorns orchids are currently registered as appendix II species, which lists plants and animals that may
become extinct, so their trade is permissible if authorised by the Cites Secretariat.

"These plants are our important exports, bringing in at least Bt1 billion per year, so the department will make two proposals to
Cites to help ease the trade," said Wicha Tithiprasert, director of the Plant Varieties Protection Division at the Department of
Agriculture.

The first proposal is to pull the hybrid orchid off the appendix II list and downgrade the blue vanda orchid from appendix I, which
deals with those species at critical population levels, to appendix II. Trade in species on the appendix I list is banned.

This would then allow the blue vanda orchid to be exported, Wicha said.

The second proposal is to move the jade and crown of thorns species out of appendix II, so there are no restrictions on import or
export, Wicha said.

"If approved, these proposals will help ease the trade of these four plants and expand the country's exports," he said, adding that
last year the country exported over ten million hybrid and jade orchids.

Wicha said the department would hold a meeting for the 31 Cites member countries in Asia in July to ask for support for Thailand's
proposals before the "Conference of the Parties" for the 167 member countries, scheduled for October 2-14 in Bangkok.

The proposals will be among over 50 expected to be made by governments around the world to the Cites secretariat.



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