project green gene

[Oliver Sparrow]

You should speak with Dr R Warren, Equatorial Plants, Barnards Castle,
Co. Durham, UK. He wild-collects orchid seed (also bromeliad) from 
tropical South America, PNG and the lesser Pacific islands; grows a these
on and disperses them amongst growers for safe keeping. He and a partner
have acquired a valley in the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest which they
protetc and which is used for limited ecotourism to raise money. This group
seed-raise orchids, gesneriads and bromeliads for export. They have just 
completed a flora epiphytica on the Brazilian East Coast.

This aside, are you sure that DNA is the right way to go? The GCF/ Agenda 21
approach of (current) biodiversity surveys to be followed by massive "world
park" acquisitions seems a more robust approach. It is, after all, the habitat
and not the species which is of prime concern and, if one protects the former
with the benefit of a full understanding, conservation of the latter will 
follow.

_________________________________________________

  Oliver Sparrow
  ohgs at chatham.demon.co.uk