APROVACA

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APROVACA (Spanish Asociación de Productores de Orquídeas de El Valle y Cabuya) is a non-profit organization established to conserve and protect native orchids in El Valle de Antón, Panama.

Orchidaceae family of plants

The Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants, with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family.

El Valle de Antón Place in Coclé, Panama

El Valle de Antón, generally called El Valle, or Anton's Valley in English, is a town of 7,600 in the Coclé province of Panama.

The organization was founded on May 15, 2001 with the goal of protecting endangered endemic Panamanian species of orchids. Illegal orchid poaching by locals have greatly diminished the number of orchids in El Valle and threatens to eradicate several species of orchids only found in El Valle.

Endemism ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location or habitat

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.

Poaching illegal taking of wild plants or animals

Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights.

The headquarters of APROVACA is in El Valle de Antón. Aside from administration the center has an orchid garden and a nursery for local orchids and horticultural varieties.

Plant nursery facility where plants are propagated and grown to usable size

A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to usable size. They include retail nurseries which sell to the general public, wholesale nurseries which sell only to businesses such as other nurseries and to commercial gardeners, and private nurseries which supply the needs of institutions or private estates.

As an ongoing project APROVACA is collaborating with the Institute of Agricultural Investigation of Panama (Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria de Panamá, IDIAP) to reintroduce endemic local orchids into their natural habitats. [1]

Since March 2010 APROVACA has been a member of the Orchid Conservation Coalition. [2]

Orchid Conservation Coalition organization

The Orchid Conservation Coalition (OCC) is a grassroots organization made up of people, orchid societies, and orchid businesses dedicated to raising awareness and money for orchid conservation.

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Paphinia vermiculifera is a species of orchid found in 2003. It is endemic to Panama.

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References

  1. "Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria de Panamá". Idiap.gob.pa. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  2. "Orchid Conservation Coalition". Orchidconservationcoalition.org. Retrieved 8 February 2019.