Etlingera coccinea

This species has mainly been found in Indonesia and Malaysia (Poulsen 2006) which are both experiencing forest loss. One reason for deforestation in Malaysia is conversion of land to Palm oil plantations. Malaysia is after Indonesia the largest producer of Palm oil and its production areas have been expanding dramatically. In 1960 Palm oil plantations covered almost 55,000 hectares and in 2000 this number had grown to almost 3.4 million hectares in this region (Theo 2002). Some areas are especially affected. According to WWF (2018) Sumatra, for example, has lost around 50% of its forests in a 22 year period.

This species is according to BGCI (2018) not grown ex situ. It is, however, known to be cultivated on Borneo (Lamb et al. 2013). Records of this species have been made in protected areas such as Kayan Mentarang and Gunung Mulu National Parks which provide a level of protection (Protected Planet 2018). Investigation of the natural distribution of this species is needed to better understand its conservation needs.