The target groups are the customs officials of the Lao PDR who will be trained in the software to distinguish between the common, non-endangered orchid species and the endangered orchid species incapacitating to curtail their illegal export across borders. The resultant effect of improvement in services and better equipped administration in Lao PDR will eventually facilitate Europe-Asia, regional Asian trade relations, in particular trade in flora, most of which is currently through illegal means. The project will build an open source based orchid species identification system of around 100 orchid species including the endangered species red listed by CITES which will be made available online open to all, a CD-Rom and a Simputer  version available in local language (Lao). The project spanning a period of 30 months will witness an exchange of know-how strengthening EU-Asia cooperation, drawing the botanical and IT&C expertise from CIRAD  and National Herbarium Nederland, Leiden ,  from Europe. The Asian partner will be the National University of Lao PDR with considerable expertise in the orchids of the country.

Needs and constraints of Laos PDR
South East Asian region, especially the countries of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, areas which are extremely diverse in their geography, culture and ecology are also home to equally diverse array of orchids, numbering about 1400 species in 174 genera. Orchids are very special plants, which thrive in situations where ‘normal’ plants would die. The fascinating orchid biology is not the only reason that people are attracted towards them but the beauty, their strangeness, the wonderful diversity in shape and colour of their flowers that enchants orchid lovers. Among the endangered species in plants, because of degradation and the destruction of habitat, orchids are the most threatened species of all in the South East Asian region. This is especially true when pressure from collectors aggravates the problem, which is certainly the case for the CITES listed, most commonly smuggled and threatened orchid taxa (Calanthe, Cymbidium, Cypripedium, Dendrobium, Paphiopedilum and Pleione) species. 

The orchids of Thailand are better known than those of Vietnam, and these are much better known than the orchids of Laos and Cambodia. Particularly, the orchids of Laos are a great unknown. Only 335 species in 85 genera have so far been identified here and one could very well estimate that with proper cataloguing efforts, the number of orchid species may easily triple. If on one hand, one doesn’t actually know the rich, diverse nature of orchids of the target country, Lao PDR comprehensively, on the other hand what is more dangerous is the possibility of extinction of such rare species. The main reasons for this are large scale destruction of forests, swamps and grasslands, destroying the natural habitat of these species and the massive, irrational and illegal collection and export to neighbouring countries and to West. Stories of truckloads of orchids being illegally exported to neighbouring countries where they are sold for their medicinal values or just act as intermediary markets, collectors from various countries wandering around remote areas looking for orchids are very common to be heard and seen in Laos. Conserving the rich biodiversity the country is endowed with while developing the country's natural resources and harnessing the economic potential is a critical challenge. Improvements in supporting regulations in conservation and trade and strengthening the capacity of national and provincial staff in curtailing illegal export trade are essential.

The current situation in Laos with regard to the illegal trade of orchids is that a few dealers and collectors make a lot of money by robbing, mostly the ‘slipper’ orchid species and the ‘jewel’ orchid species to the neighbouring countries and illicit markets, from where they are shipped to different parts of the world. In the absence of sound legislations, command and control restrictions and appropriate technical knowledge and tools to aid the enforcement agencies to identify endangered species, the situation has steadily worsened over the past few years.

Though, CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora) in its various plant committee meetings has emphasised the need to give high priority to the training of enforcement officers, more needs to be done at the ground level to accomplish this in Lao PDR. Therefore providing an IT&C based knowledge base and training to the customs officers of Lao PDR would incrementally help curb the illegal export business.

In a larger perspective, what could be a viable and steady source of income to a large population through organised business ventures either by private, public or foreign investments is being irrationally exploited by a handful of illegal exporters. For a country like Lao PDR with limited industrial resources, it is quite imperative that the nation’s economy will have to depend upon its wealthy natural resources on a long term basis. Assistance to trade and investment, promoting the integration of Lao PDR in the international trade community through IT&C tools is a potential area that yet needs to be explored locally. Also there is a great potential to nurture and develop local businesses if proper information flow can be ensured about the richness and diverse nature of orchid species in Lao PDR. This can be made possible by cataloguing and showcasing the different types of orchids on the website and also by establishing a reference orchid nursery which will contain living collections of the most common species of Lao PDR. Thus potentials in creating new business opportunities could be harnessed by trade facilitating agencies such as LNCCI (Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Ministry of Commerce which can promote balanced genuine bio-trade initiatives including rural orchid nurseries of artificially propagated species targeted at the ever-demanding export market.

Scientific and management knowledge transfer
The Orchis project aims to enhance the export capabilities of Lao PDR business community in general by creating a knowledge base on the rich and diverse orchid species of the country. This knowledge base will help to reinforce the institutional capabilities of the target Asian country, Lao PDR. The knowledge base of orchids of Lao PDR, based on the IDAO technology (species identification system IDAO (IDentification Assistée par Ordinateur), Grard, P., 2002)  will help the staff of the various administrations such as the customs department and the intermediary business organisations like the LNCCI to identify the orchid species involved in illegal trafficking on one hand and on the other, will enhance their knowledge about the richness of natural resource available in the country, the orchids. This work will complete useful tools made by the CITES, for management and scientific authorities, customs officials, and all others involved in implementing and enforcing CITES.

This knowledge base will be available online, which will disseminate information of the various orchid species, their botanical description complete with photographs, their status vis-à-vis conservation concerns thus addressing the international scientific and business community, particularly from Europe which has evinced keen interests in strengthening trade relations in the region. This knowledge base will be built with the networking of European institutions (CIRAD, France and NHN Leiden, Netherlands) and Asian counterpart (National University of Laos, Lao PDR) facilitating an exchange of know-how in the areas of Information Technology and Taxonomy applied to business sector.

The reference orchid nursery that will be established as part of the action will also serve for study morphological characters used for identification, and for teach Orchid identification method. In a second time, this nursery will serve the horticulturists who are interested in the artificial propagation of orchids, of those species which might have high market value, thereby creating a riche potential for bio-trade.

Conclusion
This will result in the improvement of services and increased efficiency of the customs department and the non-profit trade facilitation agencies such as LNCCI, Foreign Trade Department, and Ministry of Commerce. The felt need of integrating Lao PDR in to the international information society is an area to reckon with, leave alone the aspects of focussing on its biodiversity heritage and international trade and commerce. Concentrated efforts on specific focal areas which will illustrate the potential for new business opportunities need to be undertaken. Such a strategic effort to catalogue and display the richness of valuable flora of a least developed country by means of IT&C applications, will not only serve as a single point of access for information on orchids of Lao PDR but also increase the prospects of foreign direct investments in the target country, Lao PDR.

References
  See http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/text.shtml to read the text of the CITES Convention
  See Annex: the CITES-listed species from Lao PDR
  See http://www.simputer.org for a description of the “Simple Inexpensive coMPUTER" concept.
  Bonnet, P., Arbonnier, M. & Grard, P. 2005. Sahel V.1.0. CD-Rom on the identification of trees of West Africa
  Schuiteman, A. & E. F. de Vogel. 2000. Orchid genera of Thailand, Lao, Cambodia, and Vietnam. NHN, Leiden. 118 pp.
  Schuiteman, A. & E. F. de Vogel. 2005. Flora Malesiana: Orchids of New Guinea, vol. III; Genera Acanthephippium to Hymenorchis (excluding Dendrobiinae s.l.). CD-ROM. ETI, Amsterdam, NHN, Leiden.
  Foppes, J. S. Bounsou, H. Pathoumphon, K. Sengkeo, 1996 “Field report no 10: trade in orchids and other ornamentals at the Lao-Thai border market, October 1996”, IUCN-NTFP Project, Champasak.