Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) - Some 70 orchid species which used to exist in Indonesian forests are believed to have become extinct due to illegal logging actvity, a cultivator said.
The loss of so many orchid species is very regrettable, said Susono Hadinugroho, chairman of the Surabaya Orchid Society here on Saturday.
Indonesia`s orchid population is the econd most deverse in the world after Brazil`s . Around 5,000 species of the world`s total 26,000 orchid species are to be found in Indonesia, he said.
Especially for "Phalaenopsis", also called `moon orchid`, around 65 percent of these species grow in Indonesia`s islands, Hadinugroho said during an orchid exhibition.
He called on the government to amend the existing government regulation on the protection of the country`s orchid species to promote preservation of the country`s orchids.
Susono believed that orchids should not only be protected but also preserved by promoting orchid breeding even outside their habitats.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said earlier that the Indonesian government would try to make orchids a major foreign-exchange earner besides oil and gas.
Currently, Indonesia was lagging behind Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore in terms of export-oriented orchid industry, he said.
He said Indonesia was earning US$3 million a year from exporting orchids, well below Thailand`s US$50 million and Taiwan`s US$15 million, while the total value of global orchid trade reaches US$150 million. (*)
