French experts provide training on collection of Kesor Kol or forest Orchid to Cambodian officials. PHOTO SUPPLIED
Experts from the French National Museum of Natural History in Paris, together with experts from Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment, have been organising a training course on the correct techniques for the collection of Kesor Kol specimens – an endangered wild orchid species.
Two of the French museum’s foremost experts, Hul Sovanmoly and Denis Larpin, are running the course, scheduled to run from November 7-20 and attended by a scientific team from the ministry and researchers from the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), among others.
“These specialists are here to offer instruction on sample collection, storage and identification,” the ministry said in a press release.
Through this collaboration, the Paris-based experts will also review and advise on the preparation of vegetable guides and other scientific documents for publication.
The Kesor Kol Sok An Phnom Kulen Research and Conservation Centre – located at the foot of Kulen Mountain in Tbeng commune’s Srah Khvav village of Siem Reap province’s Banteay Srei district – is home to the largest collection of Kesor Kol in Cambodia.
The centre was established in late 2018 by the General Secretariat for the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) in collaboration with the Siem Reap provincial Department of Environment and the owner of the Bloom Garden Greenhouse.
According to the ministry, to date the centre has collected and preserved about 5,000 Kesor Kol specimens from throughout the Kingdom, equivalent to 210 types.
Most of them were discovered in Preah Sihanouk, Koh Kong, Kampot, Siem Reap and Mondulkiri provinces. The centre has sent 23 types to the National Museum of Natural History in Paris for identification and inclusion in international records.
Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra said the research centre carries out a lot of important work aside from the preservation and restoration of Kesor Kol and collection of live Kesor Kol specimens. It records and inventories all of the species it discovers, and as such is an invaluable scientific resource.
“The ministry will take legal action against anyone who destroys Kesor Kol. We have warned people who trade in these rare and valuable plants that they are becoming scarcer and scarcer in the wild, and are prepared to prosecute anyone who trades in them,” he added.
