Musa arfakiana

The upper montane forest in which the type collection of Musa arfakiana was made was formerly subject to timber extraction activities and gardening (Argent 2010). Forest loss of between 5–10% has occurred between 2001–2018 in the suspected area of occupancy for M. arfakiana (GFW 2019); however, the majority of the forest loss across this time period appears to have taken place since the collection date in 2009 suggesting that these former threats are likely still ongoing across the native range. The extinction risk to the species posed by threat is exacerbated by its highly restricted distribution and occurrence outside a protected area, as well as its absence from ex situ conservation (Ruas et al. 2017, BGCI 2019, UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2019). As such, potential future threat owing to larger-scale timber extraction activities should also be regarded with caution as these would have a significant impact over a 4 km² scale (Hidayat 2016).

The genus Musa is listed in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) which aims to guarantee sustainable agriculture and food security through the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, as well as ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use (FAO 2009). The species is not known from any protected areas, although the sole recorded population lies within 2 km of the boundary of the 683.25 km² Pegunungan Arfak Nature Reserve (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2019). Seeds collected from the type locality failed to germinate (Argent 2010) and it is not known to be conserved ex situ elsewhere (Ruas et al. 2017, BGCI 2019, Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources 2019). As such, gathering of wild germplasm material for ex situ conservation from extant wild plants is a conservation priority.