Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 08:29:48 -0400 From: Rand Nicholson <writserv@nbnet.nb.ca> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg134$foo@default> Subject: Re:N.clipeata fire
>Hi Rand,
>
>< Was this fire that you speak of a natural event?
>
>I don't think so. I believe there was the same reason as this year: El
>Ninio! In 1983 was a very strong El Ninio and thousands of square
>miles burned down. The fire at Kelam was later. But the reason was -
>so I think - the same: the natives there burned the rainforest for
>agriculture. I also don't believe that clipeata is adapted to fire.
>You can compare this case with the destiny of Nepenthes campanulata:
>died out by a fire.
>
>So I often think about CITES-regulations on the one hand and
>destroying of natural living space of carnivorous plants on the other
>hand. No protection by law will help to stop the dieing out of
>species, if the locations will be destroyed by sattlement, new roads
I have often railed against the indiscriminate stupidity of CITES as it now
stands. It is so loose and open to interpretation (_not_ a unifying policy
of standards) that it is unworkable. Designed to protect and preserve, it
instead insures that many rare and endangered plants will find no sanctuary
in the gardens, greenhouses and homes of what is (in my opinion) becoming
one of the last bastions of preservation of species; the amateur grower, or
hobbyist. These people should be recognized for what they are: An amazing
resource with untapped
potential. Under CITES they are often treated as pests, no matter what
their credentials.
There are private unsubsidized collections that have plants that can be
found nowhere else in the world, because their habitats no longer exist;
much for the same reasons that you describe above.
>or mining of natural resorces (including trees). In my opinion N.
>clipeata is not the last carnivorous plant, which will die out in the
>next time.
>
>Johannes
Reluctantly, I must agree with you. A sobering thought.
Kind Regards,
Rand
Rand Nicholson
New Brunswick
Maritime Canada, Z 5b
<writserv@nbnet.nb.ca>
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