Eremospatha macrocarpa

Eremospatha macrocarpa is highly threatened in many places where it occurs due to the the over-harvesting of its stems, which is currently leading to the decline of subpopulations, and even extinction in some areas. Specific and up-to-date data are missing about the degree of harvesting and population sizes and declines, but we can infer that subpopulations are declining in many areas. In Côte d'Ivoire, the species appears to be highly threatened by intensive exploitation of the cane and a substantial reduction in the size of the subpopulations has been observed (S. da Giau, D. Ouattara and F. Stauffer pers. comm. 2016). Similarly in Ghana, subpopulation declines have been observed due to over-harvesting, and the species appears to be threatened by habitat loss due to forest conversion to field-crops. Ouattara et al. (2015) reported the species does not occur in agro-ecosystems. In Central Africa, the exploitation of this rattan is also leading to local scarcity of this species, for example in Bata in Equatorial Guinea (Sunderland and Obama 1999). In Cameroon, the harvesting of this rattan was reported to be unsustainable as the intensity of harvest exceeds the regeneration and growth times. In spite of this over-harvesting, the species is still common where it is found, throughout its very large distribution range, and is present in 27 protected areas so currently does not meet any of the criteria to be assessed as threatened globally.

The species is present in 27 protected areas (IUCN and UNEP-WCMC 2016) and one ex situ conservation site (BGCI 2016).