Musa kattuvazhana

In the Western Ghats, the species is reported to have suffered drastic declines, primarily attributable to consumption by wild elephants and the destruction of habitat by local people. Wild elephants use the plant for food and completely destroy it by digging up the rhizomes. The extant populations are not thought to be threatened by elephants as they are now restricted to less accessible forest, but threats related to habitat destruction by people and climate change are ongoing (Joe et al. 2016). From 2001 to 2018, Myanmar and Thailand lost 7.9% and 9.6% of forest cover, respectively, although most of this loss is from areas in which the species has not been recorded. Within its suspected range in Myanmar and Thailand, forestry and shifting agriculture appear to be the dominant drivers of tree cover loss (GFW 2019).

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). There are 12 M. kattuvazhana germplasm accessions of unknown wild origin held worldwide under the synonym, M. acuminata subsp. burmannica: three are held by the Bioversity International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre (ITC) in Belgium; two are held by the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) in Uganda, the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) in Guadeloupe, and the Indonesian Centre for Horticultural Research and Development (ICHORD), and one is held by each of the Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura Tropical (EMBRAPA) in Brazil, AGROSAVIA in Colombia, the Centre africain de recherche sur bananes et plantains (CARBAP) in Cameroon, and the Centre National de Recherches Agronomiques (CNRA) in Côte d'Ivoire. An additional nine germplasm accessions are held under the synonym, M. acuminata var. burmannicoides: two are held at AGROSAVIA, one at the Institute of Fruit Tree Research, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IFTR/GDAAS) in China, one at the Corporación Bananera Nacional S.A. (CORBANA) in Costa Rica, and one at each of the ITC, NARO, CIRAD, ICHORD and CARBAP (Ruas et al. 2017, Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources 2019). One botanical garden is listed as a site of ex situ conservation for this species (BGCI 2019). This species occurs in multiple protected areas across its range including the Western Ghats World Heritage site, so passive conservation is presumed in these localities (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2019); it is unclear whether active management is apparent in any of these areas. In a preliminary assessment, based only on information from the Western Ghats population, Joe et al. (2016) assessed M. kattuvazhana as Critically Endangered CR A1ac; C1+2. The main threat identified was consumption by wild elephants (Joe et al. 2016) and management to safeguard the species against this threat may be beneficial in the Western Ghats.