Bananier

This species distribution covers five of Conservation International's Biodiversity Hotspots (Indo-Burma, Philippines, Sundaland, Wallacea and Western Ghats and Sri Lanka). Across all these Hotspots clearance of forests for agriculture, logging and plantations is a serious threat. Across south east Asia the total forest area has decreased by 8% from 1990 to 2015 (Keenan et al. 2015). The rate of forest loss has increased since 1990 in Indonesia and Mynamar but there has been an increase in forest area in China, Philippines and Viet Nam (Keenan et al. 2015). At a national level the percentage of remaining original forest varies, for example in the Philippines only 7% of original closed canopy forest and 3% of original lowland forest remains (CEPF 2016a), whilst in Sri Lanka only 4.6% of original wet forest remains in highly fragmented patches due to clearance for agriculture and timber (MOE 2012, CEPF 2016b). In Thailand from 1950 to 2000 there has been a 60% decrease in forest cover (Middleton 2003) with 15-25% of forest cover remaining (van Welzen et al. 2011). 

Forest loss across the region could be inferred to cause a reduction in this species population but there is little specific information available. In Sri Lanka it was reported that wild species of banana are "beginning to disappear" due to habitat destruction (Samarasinghe 2006). Whilst in the Andaman and Nicobar islands surveys in 2011 to 2013 (Singh 2014) found that this species and two other Musa species are restricted to only a few localities, all disturbed by people and elephants, with a loss of 20% of Musa localities in the last decade. In Thailand areas of forest, for example Nan Province, where Wild Bananas were reported to grow have suffered large forest loss (S. Swangpol pers. comm. 2016).

Banana cultivars suffer from a number of pests including nematodes, bacterial, fungal and viral diseases (Morton 1987, Robinson and Gálan Saúco 2010), although it is thought the Wild Banana has some resistance to these diseases (Samarasinghe 2006).

This species is found in some protected areas, including Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park (Sulawesi, Indonesia), Lawachara National Park (Bangladesh), Manusela National Park (Maluku, Indonesia), Sinharaja forest reserve (Sri Lanka, also an UNESCO world heritage site) and in three wildlife sanctuary's in Kerala, India. There are living collections in 67 botanic gardens (BGCI 2016), although it is unknown if these are all wild origin plants and not cultivars.

As banana is an important food crop a global conservation strategy for Musa was published in 2006 by the "International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain" which brings together banana crop scientists (INIBAP 2006). There are 60 national collections of Musa cultivars, with plants conserved in living field collections or in tissue culture and a global Musa germplasm collection with 1,200 accessions in tissue culture kept at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (INIBAP 2006). However, wild Musa species make up only 15% of the global Musa germplasm collection and it is not specified how many of these collections are of M. acuminata (INIBAP 2006). It is listed as a global priority crop wild relative by Vincent et al. (2013) and is a target species for seed conservation in the Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change project (Dempewolf et al. 2014).

In the Sri Lanka national red list (MOE 2012) this species was assessed as Endangered (B1ab(i,ii,iii)+B2ab(i,ii,iii). In a preliminary national assessment for Thailand the species was assessed as Vulnerable A2ac due to an inferred decline in the population size due to habitat loss (S. Swangpol pers. comm. 2016).