In spite of significant recent advances in understanding how to conserve species we are failing to conserve some of the most beloved and charismatic, with severe population losses, shrinking ranges and extinctions of subspecies. The primary reason is hunting for illegal trade of highly valuable body parts, increasingly operated by sophisticated organized criminal syndicates supplying wealthy East Asian markets. Current enforcement systems were not established to tackle such crime, and weak governance, low capacity and inadequate resources facilitate the trade. To save these species this trade must be treated as serious crime, with allocation of sufficient resources, highly trained personnel, and appropriate technologies to allow it to be tackled effectively. Success in tackling this trade will necessitate commitment from governments and non-governmental organizations and the support of civil society.

The processes that threaten 240 Indonesian threatened plants were identified and categorized based on a comprehensive review of the published literature and elicitation of information from experts. Intrinsic biological factors and habitat loss are the major causes of plant endangerment in Indonesia (affecting 83 and 82% of species respectively), followed by overexploitation (64%) and natural factors (6%). The dominant threats vary between major plant groups, with habitat loss being particularly important for palms and trees, and biological factors important for orchids. For all studied plant species three sets of inter-related threatening processes (threat syndromes) were identified that differed among the major plant groups. By identifying and evaluating the processes that threaten plants in Indonesia we provide knowledge to guide their future conservation.

The social sciences are often seen as being in opposition to conservation and the practice of conservationists. Yet social scientists have made important contributions to conservation and could make even more contributions if they are willing to use their perceptive, insightful tools as a means of both improving the practice of conservation and sharpening social science’s critique of conservation ideas and practices. I provide two lists: first, a list of the ways in which I think social science work has already improved conservation practice and, second, a set of generalizations made by some social scientists about the practice of conservation that are incorrect or incomplete. I argue that a more careful application of social science tools and approaches could begin an active and informed exploration of the diversity of values, histories, institutions, politics and approaches in conservation. This would facilitate the sharpening of social science’s critique of conservation ideas and practices and, through these, improve the practice of conservation.

The aims of this work were to verify the distribution and population size of Lamyropsis microcephala (Asteraceae), characterize its habitat, assess its conservation status and initiate conservation measures for this Critically Endangered species. Distribution was determined by field surveys and mapping. To estimate population size and density 81 permanent monitoring plots were randomly established. Ex situ conservation measures were activated by harvesting and appropriate storage of seed. We confirmed the presence of L. microcephala at two previously known sites and found it in two previously unknown localities. The areas in which the species occur vary from 200 to 240,000 m2, at altitudes of 1,450–1,820 m, on slopes of 15–45° with aspects from north to west. The estimated number of ramets per population varied from c. 2,000 to c. 2,000,000, with a mean density of 8.29 ± SD 14.3 to 10.33 ± SD 10.05 ramets m-2. Our findings confirmed the Critically Endangered status of this species, although with different criteria. This study is an example of an integrated approach for the conservation of an extremely narrow endemic plant species and may be useful for other little-known threatened species for which urgent conservation measures are needed.