I no very little about the latest developments in the CITES area short
of what I read in the forum, but it seems that CITES "may" encourage
more illegal poaching, not discourage it.
My logic is this. If it is difficult or impossible to trade or sell
greenhouse or in vitro propagated specimens of a rare plant, THEN those
who desperately want them will collect them.
If a plant is rare in the wild, but is propagated in mass through in
vitro and distributed, the value of the plant goes way down and people
will not want to poach it for profit or personal collections. Whereas
if a plant is restricted from distribution, then it becomes valuable,
and some will poach it.
Perhaps I am missing a point in the law. If so, please fill me in.
In any case, this entire discussion about CITES is probably mute because
I imagine if a poacher went in and collected samples of an endangered CP
it would probably do a heck of a lot less damage than the acres of that
species that would probably be wiped out that same year by farming,
mining, housing developments, etc. **NOTE: I am by no means endorsing
this - I am absolutely against poaching!**
If someone is more educated out there about this than I, please let me
know if I am on track or way offbase. Common sense and personal
observations lead me to conclude the above without having enough real
data to say it is really true or not.
On a related issue, if there were more *propagated* CP out there, and
more people realize how amazing they are, perhaps more people would take
greater steps to protect their natural habitats.
- jeff