Musa lawitiensis

Within its Indonesian range, the species is known from the Betung Kerihun National Park and the remote mountainous areas of West Kutai regency; these are areas of almost untouched primary forest. Across the remainder of its range in the North Borneo coast river basin, inclusive of Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei, about 24% of forest cover has been lost between 2001 and 2018 (GFW 2019). Between 2001 and 2017, 1.85 Mha of industrial plantation was established in Malaysian Borneo and industrial oil palm development has been identified as the major driver of the area's deforestation (Gaveau et al. 2016, 2018). However, the impact of deforestation on members of the Musa genus is somewhat difficult to quantify: while clear-felling or land conversion is likely to be detrimental to the species, wild bananas spring up in transient, often man-made, habitats and thus may benefit from human disturbance to some extent (Simmonds 1962). Musa lawatiensis has been found growing along logging tracks (Häkkinen 2006); on this basis, it is thought that industrial-scale land conversion is more likely to constitute a threat to the species than smaller-scale disturbance.

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). Musa lawitiensis has been collected from multiple protected areas across its range and has been observed in abundance in the 8,000 km² Betung Kerihun National Park (Häkkinen 2006), so passive conservation is presumed in these localities (Protected Planet 2019); it is unclear whether active management is apparent in any of these areas. The species is not known to be conserved ex situ (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 highly recommended.