Poachers using online data

[Apicra]

This well written and researched article describes how it is getting easier to find localities for rare specimens. It is is well worth reading to the end:
http://e360.yale.edu/features/unnatural ... es-at-risk

[Duplicated from the eBay thread.]

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble,
Multiple visitor to South Africa

[topsy]

Hi Derek,

Thanks for bringing this article to our attention, perhaps it should have its own "subject", it is likely to get lost in this one and deserves more and wider discussion.

Man!!!!!!!!!!!

Suzanne

[ralphrmartin]

Derek

I read that article to the end, and while it has much that I would agree with, one thing it only touches on is that if even if data is not public, it soon gets shared out amongst the "in crowd". It's all too easy for the "wrong sort" to join the "in crowd", so unless you tell no-one at all where you discovered your findings (like the guy who discovered a new snake in the article), the information might just as well be public. Indeed, in that way, more people will be able to enjoy the plants in habitat.

The other thing the article does not mention at all, of course, is the threat to many organisms is not only (or mainly) over-collection, but also human development. That won't happen in a hurry in places like the Knersvlakte, perhaps, but I have certainly seen sites in South America and South Africa where rarities once grew and there is now a housing estate, or a potato field. Conservation is not just about saving icons like tigers and rhinos, yet far more attention (and money) gets paid to saving them than a few weird succulents.

Ultimately, every plant in our collections comes from material derived from the wild somehow or other. What we need is some reasonable balance, which allows responsible collection and artificial propagation of plants - both for the enjoyment of collectors and the general public, and also as an ex-situ resevre of genetic material. At the moment, international rules make such a balanced approach pretty much impossible.

Ralph

[Tony R]

I have split the above posts into this topic from the 'Auction Site' topic to give this thread greater visibility
Tony R - Moderator

[Apicra]

Too many cooks!

Oh well, this new thread sort of makes sense.

DT

[pauco]

Cooks Or crooks