Musa tuberculata

Forest cover loss in Temburong (type locality) has been modest (GFW 2020), and Gunung Mulu National Park is one of the best protected and appropriately managed protected areas in South East Asia (IUCN World Heritage Outlook 2020). More broadly, though, across Borneo, forest cover has decreased from 75.7% in 1973 to 52.8% in 2010, and between 2010 and 2015, an additional 18,500 km² of forest was lost (Gaveau et al. 2016, McAlpine et al. 2018). 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, Gaveau et al. 2018). Where the species has been collected near Baram, huge expanses of land have been converted to plantations; in fact, the Borneo peat swamp forests ecoregion, in which this locality lies, lost 42% of its tree cover between 2001 and 2020 (GFW 2020). Even in Temburong, on the road from Radang to Batu Apoi where the species was collected, large housing complexes are visible on satellite imagery, and associated development may pose a threat. Although the presence of the species at localities in Limbang and Baleh is not certain, if presence of the species is confirmed, urbanisation is suspected to represent a major threat in both areas; at Baleh, multiple quarrying operations are visible from satellite imagery and may pose an additional threat (GFW 2020). Additionally, as documented subpopulations are reported to be small (K. Meekiong pers. comm. 2021), the severity of any threats in operation is likely to be heightened. It should be noted, though, that the specific 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). As no wild subpopulations of M. tuberculata have been documented in any detail, further research will be required to evaluate the threats it faces at specific sites, as well as its ability to respond to 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). The species has been collected from Gunung Mulu National Park (UNEP-WCMC and IUCN 2020); passive conservation is presumed here, but it is not known whether active management is practised. It is not known to be conserved ex situ (Ruas et al. 2017, BGCI 2020, Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources 2020). As such, gathering of wild germplasm material for ex situ conservation from extant wild plants is a conservation priority.