Biodiversity and Forest Treasures

In the New Sunday Times, 14th December 2008, Ms Elizabeth Jones wrote about two recent books on the flora and fauna of the Peat Swamp Forest of Malaysia. The books are as follows:-
1. Rusea Go & Khali Aziz Hamzah, "Orchids of Peat Swamp Forests of Peninsular Malaysia". The peat swamp forests of Malaysia are known to be rich in flora notably members of the Orchidaceae. The orchids are mostly epiphytes perched high up on the branches of the trees. They have been constantly collected by the Orang Asli, exhibited under the road-side small huts, sold to the passers-by. I have observed the Singaporeans patronising these stalls bargaining for these orchids. Noting that the Orang Asli need not apply for the permits from the Forestry Department to collect these orchids, the epiphytic orchids and also the epiphytic Huperzia were readily sold to the outsiders without any concerns to the survival of these species, including their conservationl
2. Melvin Gumal, Jason Hon & Daniel Kong, "Birds and bats of Loagan Bunut National Park". I have yet to see this new book, hence no comment.
Earlier Faridah-Hanum Ibrahim, Shamsul Khamis & Khali Aziz Hamzah published the "Flora of the Peat Swamp Forest of Peninsular Malaysia" illustrating with excellent pictures and good descriptions of the common flowering plants of the peat swmp forest, This book went unnoticed. All the above publications and others are legacy of Dr. Efransyah, the former CTA of the Peat Swamp Forest Conservation Project in Malaysia.