Areca abdulrahmanii

This species is present at 150 m asl in the Gunung Mulu national park which is 522 km². This park is present within the Vulnerable Borneo lowland rainforests (IM0102) (WWF 2001). In this region the forests are threatened by illegal logging and by the conversion of forests to plantations of oil palm, rubber and industrial timber (WWF 2001). The conversion to oil palm plantations is the biggest threat to the remaining forests on Borneo. In Sarawak, oil palm plantations covered an area of 26,237 ha in 1984. By 2003 this figure rose to 464,774 ha which gives an average annual growth rate of 7.9% (cited in Rautner et al. 2005). A more recent report by UNEP (2007) says that natural rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo are being cleared so rapidly that up to 98% may be destroyed by 2022 without urgent action. Gunung Mulu is now recognised as a World Heritage Site, which should afford it adequate protection, however there is also the danger of increased pressure from tourist activity unless well managed. Being only known from a single locality and with the threats associated with stochastic events such as rockfalls, landslides, local fires etc. it is considered a single location.

This species is present within the Gunung Mulu National Park which is 544 km². There is no evidence that this palm is cultivated and seeds from this species are not banked in the Millennium Seed Bank, UK. It has previously attained a conservation status of Highly Endangered (Johnson et al. 1996), Endangered (WWF Project 3325 1991) and Endangered in Malaysia-Sarawak (1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants; Walter and Gillett 1998). It is not listed on CITES. In February 2007, the governments of Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia agreed to protect roughly 220,000 km² (85,000 m²) of tropical forest in the so-called "Heart of Borneo". The initiative is designed to not only protect large areas of forests but to also provide water and food security, as well as to support the cultural survival for the people of central Borneo. It is hoped that the adoption of this initiative by all stakeholders will save the island from the ultimate threat of deforestation and increased impacts from droughts and fires (Chapman et al. 2007). The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is one initiative working on equitable and sustainable palm oil production in Borneo.