Wet Tropics: SE Asia
Future Plans
Collections (2006 onwards)
The main curatorial focus will be to further reduce the naming backlog. Furthermore, we will actively try to fill gaps in the herbarium collections by undertaking fieldtrips to New Guinea and Indo-China in particular. Access to the collections will be enhanced by databasing and imaging important SE Asian collections, for instance in the project Digitising the specimens and archive of A.F.G. Kerr, pioneering botanist in Thailand.
Baseline Plant Diversity Research (2006 onwards)
RBG Kew will continue to contribute significantly to Flora Malesiana and Flora of Thailand (see projects Palms of New Guinea; Systematics of Lamiaceae subfamily Viticoideae; Taxonomic Research of Ecologically Important Plant Families in South East Asia; and Grasses of Thailand), as well as to the regional Floras, e.g. Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak (including Systematics of Lamiaceae subfamily Viticoideae), and the Field Guide to the Forest Trees of Brunei Darussalam. For the first couple of years, we will focus our floristic inventories in support of our Darwin Initiative funded projects: Assessing and conserving plant diversity in commercially managed tropical rainforests in Sabah and the Field Guide to the Forest Trees of Southern Thailand.
The Tropical Plant Identification course (developed in collaboration with other Herbarium sections) was established in 2004 and will continue to run annually, providing training in plant identification skills.
Comparative Plant Biology (2006 onwards)
Kew aims to publish final Flora accounts for some of the former dicotyledon focus groups (e.g. Elaeocarpaceae, Nepenthes, Aquifoliaceae, Antidesma, Austrobuxus), to continue work on most of the major groups of monocotyledons (aroids, bamboos, orchids, palms, sedges, yams) and to further develop work on the Myrsinaceae and Labiatae (including Verbenaceae).
Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Resources (2006 onwards)
Kew staff will continue to provide baseline data on plant taxonomy, for identification purposes; and ecology and natural history, which are essential for the sustainable utilisation of plants and their development as plantation crops. Through the Darwin Initiative funded project Assessing and conserving plant diversity in commercially managed tropical rainforests in Sabah, we will support the framework of Forest Stewardship Council certification as the most appropriate way of managing tropical timber concessions for sustainable utilisation.
Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (2006 onwards)
Kew staff with expertise in the SE Asia region will continue to provide taxonomic information essential to conservation (see Thai Cyperaceae: distribution and conservation). We will be finishing the project Assessing and conserving plant diversity in commercially managed tropical rainforests in Sabah, which has a major conservation and monitoring element. Joint expeditions to conservational- sensitive areas are planned, particularly in Indo-China and New Guinea, in order to support local conservation efforts.