KUCHING: An appeal has been made to the public to conserve and preserve orchids in Sarawak.
This appeal came from Welfare, Community Well-Being, Women, Family and Children Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah and Sarawak Orchid Society (Sarorso).
Yesterday, Sarorso representatives paid a courtesy call on Fatimah to impress upon her about the importance of raising awareness of orchid species in Sarawak.
Sarorso founder Tengku Auvarosa Tengku Abraham said that orchid species like dendrobium anosmum (orchid engkodol) can be used as a medicine while in India it can be used to make baskets and for arts and crafts.
“The population of orchid species in Sarawak is 2,500 and the state has the largest collection,” she said.
She said that in order to preserve the orchids for our future generation, pollinators such as bees and bats are needed because orchids are not able to pollinate themselves.
As about 75 per cent of the bees in the world are now extinct, the survival of orchids are threatened, she said at Baitulmakmur Building.
Fatimah said that the relationship between orchids and the pollinators will perish if they are not well-taken care of.
“We must make sure not to upset the ecological balance so as not to cause the extinction of either the orchids or the pollinators,” she said.
Tengku Auvarosa said as the community ought to be educated on the importance of indigenous orchids in the ecosystem, Sarorso is now working with schools to ignite interests in orchids.
“We are now working with a primary school in the UK (Writhlington School Orchid Project) where they have a greenhouse for orchids. A teacher who has 30 years of experience in orchids is willing to come and teach the students in Sarawak about the indigenous orchids,” she said.
Fatimah thought it is a good idea to inculcate the children with the idea of preserving the environment to ensure that there is sustainable ecological balance for orchids to thrive in nature.
“It is one of the methods to spark interest in orchids among young students,” she said.
