Always Something New at AHBT !

Conference on Conservation of Lepidoptera

By Simon Chan and Gan Cheong Weei
December 2008

The theme of the 2nd Asian Lepidoptera Conference Symposium (ALCS) 2008 was 'Conservation of Lepidoptera through Education and Research'. Hosted by the Penang Butterfly Farm from 24 to 28 November 2008 in Penang, Malaysia, the conference covered topics divided into four general themes :

1) Identifying the Asian Lepidoptera Status & Its Needs,
2) Lepidoptera Research and Info Sharing,
3) Education towards Lepidoptera Conservation and
4) Global/Asian Lepidopteran Trend.

Gan and Simon gave an introduction
on BIG and presented on
"The ABC of Butterfly Gardening"

The NSS Butterfly Subgroup was invited to give
a talk for the first time. Our presentation was
on 'The ABCs of Butterfly Gardening', which detailed the ABC approach we developed for setting up a butterfly garden and examined the pros and cons of setting up an open and enclosed butterfly garden, as illustrated by two case studies, the 'open' Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Trail and the 'enclosed' Changi Airport T3 Butterfly Garden. Also from Singapore, Dr Leong Tzi Ming representing NParks gave a presentation on the preliminary assessment of moth diversity in Singapore and highlighted
type specimens recorded in Singapore.

Other speakers include distinguished lepidopterists from Malaysia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Germany and the UK (Dr. Jeremy Holloway of the 'The Moths of Borneo' ! )

The Singapore contingent (L-R) : Simon Chan,
Gan Cheong Weei, Dr Leong Tzi Ming (NParks)
and Steven Chong (BIG member)

The conference culminated in a discussion workshop covering topics like:

1) Viability of small reserves,
2) Status assessment - is IUCN's Red List
    assessment suitable for butterflies
    (or arthropods) in general?,
3) Use of the Internet for Asian Lepidoptera
    Conservation Group (ALCG) and
4) Environmental Impact - How can ALCG
    assist in promoting the use of Lepidoptera
    for Environmental Impact Assessment
    (EIA) ?

We visited the Matang Forest Reserve in Perak,
a mangrove habitat, where we saw butterflies
like the Spotted Black Crow and Centaur Oak Blue.

As part of the conference, we visited Penang National Park where all of us planted the Aristolochia tagala, the host plant of the Common Birdwing ( Troides helena ) and Common Rose ( Pachliopta aristolochiae ).
We also enjoyed trips to Penang Butterfly
Farm's breeding facilities, Matang Forest Reserve in Perak, and sightseeing of Penang
and Georgetown. In all, we had a wonderful time learning from each other, establishing important contacts and discussing various issues. We look forward to the next ALCS in 2010.