It will be a busy week for us here at the Orchid Project as students have been invited to stage an orchid display at the International illegal Wildlife Trade Conference being hosted by the UK Government in London.

We are working with our partner scientists at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Illegal Wildlife Trade at the University of Oxford who have succeeded in getting plants and particularly orchids included in the conference. The display will include a number of orchid species threatened by unsustainable illegal trade. We have seen examples of this trade first hand in Laos where organised crime is stripping forests of its valuable species, including orchids, and destroying opportunities for the sustainable development of the forest for the benefit of the local community.

We will bring you more news as it happens during the week.