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illegal orchids or orchid smuggling.....
I bought a flask of the Paph vietnamense sold by Antec. They provided me
with a receipt just like they do with any other Paph. There was no other paper work that came with the flask. The only assurance I have that the plants were propagated and sold with the blessing of the US and Vietnamese governments was Antec's posted word on their website. Of course, I believed them. I think the story of how they came to propagate and sell them legally in the US is still documented on their website. Despite my belief in Antec's veracity, I checked with a friend of mine who works for CITES in the capacity of "Chief, Division of Scientific Authority", (lets call him CITES DUDE and imagine him to be very much like Captain America after consuming a can of Popeye's magical spinach) and he confirmed they were aware of what antec was doing and it was legal. I contacted him to ask about *re-selling* them and what I needed to provide to people who bought them from me. When I re-sell these paphs to people in my country (the US) I only need to provide a receipt just like I do with all my plants. There is no special documentation required. I am usually asked, by the customer, to send a copy along of Antec's receipt as proof that I got them from Antec but this requirement of a forward propagating paper trail is internet lore. If you stop to think about it, a copy of my receipt from Antec does not *prove* that the plants I am selling came from Antec. The copy machine does not know how many plants came out of the flask. It does not know if I am the owner of the original receipt I am copying. I was told by CITES DUDE the following (and this is hard to quote without getting confusing, so I am going to paraphrase except for the words in actual quotes): if the customer wishes and I was agreeable I could provide them a statement that "these are legal plants derived from the Plant Rescue Center Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" or something like that. Strangely, even this does not seem to be required. I was told *If the customer wishes and I am agreeable*.... It seems CITES is sensitive to the fact that I might not want to tell my customers where I get my plants for purely economic reasons. Why buy them from me at the prices I am charging if you can go to my source? Everybody is a middleman... However, I did not mind sharing with my customers that the plants I was selling came from an Antec flask. I actually printed it on the plant tag, for whatever that was worth.... Occasionally I did get a little tense when they wanted me to go make a copy of my receipt. If only because it is non-proof and protects neither them or me from anything the government might do if it suspected somebody is breaking the law. So for the average customer, a receipt is all that is necessary and required. However I was told by CITES DUDE that a statement of origin was (and this is CITES DUDE verbatim now) "most critical to anyone who thinks they might want to export the plants they got from you, or propagate them and export their progeny. They'll need to get CITES export documents from us, and we'll ask about the origin of the plants. Beyond that, it is likely to become an issue only if someone has raised suspicions that they are dealing in (buying or selling) illegal plants." For what it's worth I believe there is no real way to track individual plants bought and sold and grown within our borders. If you are dealing with importers and exports of orchids you should check them for shady qualities, if only for your own peace of mind. Don't buy something you believe you shouldn't have no matter how badly you want it. If you are breaking the import/export laws, you will eventually raise suspicions. The CITES DUDE I am referring to is an orchid collector himself. He is an active member of our local society and knows all the vendors in the area. "Ted Byers" wrote in message .. . Andrew, I expect that most here are as interested in conservation as anyone else active in conservation. Your solution, while commendable, is inadequate for the obective of ensuring continued survival of orchids in the wild. You need a more comprehensive system. First, as you say, there is a need, in each country, for commercial growers who have proper documentation proving that even when they sell species, the plants sold are the product of a breeding program, and that who ensure that they have al the requisite CITES documentation in place. They'd also have to ensure that they supply the proper documentation to their customers so that they and/or their customers can use the plants in their own breeding programs and maintain the option of exporting their plants too. Second, there is an urgent need to conserve habitat, and to design sampling regimes that protect the species. For example, for species that can be produced by cloning, sample only the meristem tissue for use in producing clones that in turn can be used for breeding. And for genera such as the catts, sample only a number of back bulbs from specimens that are large enough to spare them, and then use the back bulbs to propagate the plants by whatever means. With some plants, the only option would be to self specimen plants, or cross neighboring planst of the same species/variety, and then come back later to harvest the seeds (and this only with plants that have many more than one flower so that natural propagation can occur too). With the availability of portable GPS technology and hand-held computers, it should be trivially easy to map orchid habitat so that those protecting the habitat can easily find specimens they have found previously. Third, it must be turned into an industry that people living in or near the habitat that is to be protected can earn a living supporting the orchid industry while concommitantly protecting the habitat. I'd expect that if the local residents have a vested interest in protecting both the orchids and their habitat, they'd help in such conservation efforts. Conservation organisations have only two general options in this regard; they can help improve the situation of the people living in or near the areas to be protected, and work with them, or they can try to maintain a running battle with them to the end of either fighting a losing battle or exterminating the local residents (something I regard as reprehensible). No matter how much I value orchids or the habitat in which they live, I value people more. My impression of many environmental activists here is that they have little regard for the people living in areas they want to protect, often describing them in terms one would use to describe mortal enemies. Your option of producing so many orchids that there is little incentive to deal in illegal orchids is a good one. However, unless embedded in a broader system that includes enabling the trade in orchids (and indeed other exotic organisms) in a manner that is consistent with, and supports the objectives of CITES, as well as having as the top priority the objective of meeting the needs of, and improving the living standards of, the people living next door to the orchids we want to protect, it can not ultimately acheive the objective of protecting wild orchids, And you may want to lighten up a bit. For the vast majority of people, their only option for supporting orchid conservation in particular, and conservation in general, is to support, by buying plants from, vendors who are involved in conservation and by joining those societies they can find that are involved in conservation, not to mention lobbying politicians to support conservation initiatives. Most orchid "consumers" will lack both the means and the expertise required to get conservation done right. Cheers, Ted -- R.E. (Ted) Byers, Ph.D., Ed.D. R & D Decision Support Solutions http://www.randddecisionsupportsolutions.com/ Healthy Living Through Informed Decision Making |
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