Licuala distans

The evergreen forest habitat in which this species grows is increasingly being threatened by the conversion of forests to large-scale oil palm and rubber plantations, resulting in a significant loss of forest in lowland regions throughout the Tenasserim-South Thailand Semi-Evergreen Rain Forests ecoregion (Wikramanayake 2020). However, all but one of the known sites where this species has been recorded from occur within protected areas. There appears to be extensive, intact habitat in all of these and therefore only one of the known subpopulations is considered to be threatened at present. This site is situated near to the hot springs in Ranong, which satellite imagery shows to have been heavily disturbed by agriculture with only patchy tree cover remaining in the surrounding hills. Although, this area is situated close to the border of Namtok Ngao National Park, where this species could feasibly occur. It should be noted that as forest loss in the region continues, the likelihood of there being additional subpopulations outside of protected areas will decrease.

There are eight ex situ collections of this species held by botanic gardens worldwide (BGCI 2023). This species has also been recorded from the following protected areas: Khao Sok National Park, Si Phangnga National Park and Laem Son National Park (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2023).