A. Species
Scientific name: Vanda coerulea
Common name(s): blue vanda
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status:
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Thailand
Country/Region:
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: National Level
Name/Details of location: Thailand; northern part of Thailand from the mountain chain in Chiangmai and Mae Hongson provinces, to the mountain chain in Lampang and Tak provinces, and a few in the western part at Karnchanaburi provinces near Myanmar border
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 2008
End Year: 2008
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat and Wild species born/bred and raised/produced in captivity or through artificial propagation
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Cultivation
Lethal or non-lethal: Non-Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Keeping/companionship/display, Learning and education, Decorative and aesthetic, Recreation and Conservation Management
Motivation of use: Largescale commercial exploitation for trade, Recreational, Traditional/Cultural/Spiritual and Population/Area Management
Is this use legal or illegal?: Legal under national law
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: unknown
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat and Wild species born/bred and raised/produced in captivity or through artificial propagation
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: CITES Non detriment findings
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: For sustainable conservation: The local community nearby the original habitat of V. coerulea collected the orchids from the forest and planted in their house for many years, and the botanist from botanical garden has been collecting the seed pods from these plants and using aseptic media for seed germination in laboratory. After transplanting and nursing the seedling in the nursery for one year, the Garden has a project to exchange ten of one year plant with one plant from the local community. The wild orchid plants have been introduced to the area where people had collected.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: CITES Non detriment findings
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Blue Vanda is popular among orchid enthusiasts and hybridizers, large numbers of whole plants have been removed from wild for years. The local community collected this orchid from the wild due to the attractive blue flowers, and sold them for around $50 for a big plant with flowers ($1=25 bath). Some plants were reared in their own houses. Now, artificial propagation provides an ample supply of plants adapted to home growing conditions. Breeders have improved the features desired by selecting good characteristics and using the self or cross pollination to develop hybrids. This factor refer to decrease the demand for wild specimens
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Details of assessment carried out: CITES Non detriment findings
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: due to improved cultivation in greehouses/ nurseries, need for poaching is limited
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
The purpose for making of Non-Detrimental finding of Vanda coerulea is to ensure that the down-listing of this species from Appendix I to II does not impact negatively on the survival of the species in the natural habitat. The achievements of NDFs are questionable. Many species of orchid have been declining for over 20 years while trade of wild orchids were banned in many countries, we encountered about the recovery of the species and the control measure about the trade especially international trade. To recover the species, we have to do more research about natural biological data such as reproductive rate, pollination biology, impact of environment and the rate of survival of reintroduction plant. Nowadays, most orchids in trade are artificially propagated, the plant have characteristics distinguishing them from the wild collected, but some importing countries have stricter controls for artificially propagated. To reduce the pressure on wild-collecting and as an incentive to artificial propagation, the guidelines to differentiate wild collected and artificially propagated should be produced and the measures to control should differ.
Record source
Information about the record source: formal_data_stats
Date of publication/issue/production: 2008-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2023-10-03