Post on 11-Jun-2020
Botanic Gardens Conservation International The world’s largest plant conservation network
Encouraging botanic gardens to do more plant conservation: tools and approaches
Dr Paul Smith, Secretary General,
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Diminishing plant diversity
© Joseph S. Venus
20% of plant species are threatened with extinction
Why plant diversity is important
Plant-based solutions are required to address all of the major environmental challenges:
• Food security
• Water scarcity
• Energy
• Human health
• Biodiversity conservation
• Climate change
Why plant diversity is important
Plant diversity enables human innovation, adaptation and resilience
The role of botanic gardens
There is no technological reason why any plant species should become extinct
The role of botanic gardens
Conservation, collections, research and education feature in most botanic garden mission statements and activities 80% of botanic gardens have Strategic Plans 65% of gardens have institutional measures of performance/success Botanic gardens are booming. The number of gardens has quadrupled over the last 30 years
The role of botanic gardens
The role of botanic gardens
Top 10 institutional measures in botanic gardens (n = 119)
The role of botanic gardens
Conservation: Specific conservation activities and impacts that a garden specialises in are rarely measured at the institutional level Research: Publications are frequently used as a surrogate for all research outputs Collections: 40% of gardens don’t measure the use of their collections by third parties Education: 49% of gardens don’t measure change of behaviour or attitudes amongst their visitors Specialist horticulture: 60% of gardens don’t measure specific horticultural skills or specialisms.
A rational, cost-effective Global System
• The Global Strategy for Plant
Conservation
• A review process (GPPC/BIP)
• A network of international institutions
and ex situ collections (BGCI)
• A global portal of accession-level data
(PlantSearch)
• A universal accessions information
management system
• Advanced bioinformatics tools that
allow users to mine characterisation
data
3000 botanic gardens in the world
3000 botanic gardens in the world
3000 botanic gardens in the world
3000 botanic gardens in the world
3000 botanic gardens in the world
3000 botanic gardens in the world
3000 botanic gardens in the world
3000 botanic gardens in the world
3000 botanic gardens in the world
A rational, cost-effective Global System: infrastructures
PlantBank, NSW, Australia GBOWS, Kunming, China
Millennium Seed Bank, U.K. Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
A rational, cost-effective Global System: technical expertise
A rational, cost-effective Global System: collections
• PlantSearch: 1,342,972 collection
records, representing 530,456 taxa,
at 1,147 contributing institutions
• Estimated minimum proportion of
total plant diversity in botanic
gardens & arboreta:
• 93% of vascular plant families
• 57% of vascular plant genera
• 30% of vascular plant species
• 41% of threatened species are held
in global ex situ collections
Mounce, Smith & Brockington (2017). Ex situ conservation of plant diversity in the world’s botanic gardens. Nature Plants (in press)
What we conserve well
62.8% of all flowering plants genera and 96.6% of conifer genera are conserved in botanic gardens
What we conserve well
60% of temperate species are conserved in botanic gardens
What we don’t conserve well
Only 25% of tropical species are conserved in botanic gardens
What we don’t conserve well
<5% of non-vascular genera
(mosses, liverworts etc.)are
conserved in botanic gardens
Photo: Australian National Botanic Garden
What we don’t conserve well
Species that are technically
difficult to grow
Pilostyles thurberi (photo: D.L. Nickrent)
What we don’t conserve well
Lack of capacity. 82% of botanic
gardens are located in the
northern hemisphere
Hydrostachys polymorpha (photo: D. Gwynne-Evans)
Threatened species
• At least 41% of known threatened species are conserved in botanic garden living collections and seed banks
• Threatened species are often harder to find and to grow
• However, only 10% of botanic garden collections capacity is dedicated to threatened plant species
Threatened species
Eligmocarpus cynometroides (Madagascar). 12 trees remain. Pollinator unknown
Threatened species
Leucadendron remotum (South Africa). Two populations. Threatened by seed predation
Threatened species
Fernandoa abbreviata (Malawi). No seed set in 40 years. Pollinator unknown
Co-ordinate efforts: red listing
RBG Kew
• ThreatSearch is the most comprehensive
database of threat assessments for plants
https://www.bgci.org/threat_search.php
• Geo-referenced global tree list complete
and launched on BGCI website as
GlobalTreeSearch
https://www.bgci.org/global_tree_search.p
hp
• Global Tree Assessment, co-ordinated by
BGCI and the IUCN Global Tree Specialist
Group, to be completed by 2020
Newton et al. (2015). Towards a Global Tree Assessment. Oryx doi:10.1017/S0030605315000137
Co-ordinate efforts: seed conservation
https://www.bgci.org/plant-conservation/seedconservation/
RBG Kew
180 participating botanic gardens
with seed banks
Co-ordinate efforts: tree conservation
• Zero tree species
extinctions
• All critically endangered
tree species conserved in
situ and/or backed up in
botanic gardens, arboreta
or seed banks
• 72 species protected in
2016
http://globaltrees.org/
Integrated tree conservation
Malawi’s national tree, the
Mulanje cedar (Widdringtonia
whytei).
Plots set up in 8 sites across
Malawi to test optimal growing
conditions.
10 community nurseries
established around Mulanje
Revenue generation selling
seedlings.
Co-ordinate efforts: ecological restoration
http://www.erabg.org/index/
Erica verticillata, extinct in the wild for 100 years. Successfully reintroduced in South Africa
30 participating botanic gardens, managing 158 projects
Co-ordinate efforts: partnerships
We need botanic gardens to:
• Take a lead in establishing consortia to
systematically conserve and manage
exceptional species in their living collections:
Rhododendron, Magnolia, Fraxinus, Camellia,
Acer, Nepenthes, orchids, dipterocarps, alpines
etc.
• Duplicate their important conservation
collections with other gardens
• Fill the gaps in living collections, prioritising wild
origin rare and threatened species.
Knowledge hub: training
In 2016 BGCI trained >300
people from 126 institutions
and 30 countries in:
• seed conservation
• nursery techniques
• conservation horticulture
• forest restoration
• survey and inventory
• red listing
• public engagement
• plant health/biosecurity
Accreditation
BGCI funds projects and training
all around the world, equivalent to
ten times what it receives in
subscriptions from its members.
In 2016 BGCI provided funding
and/or training to >160 botanical
institutions on 6 continents
Mobilising funding and resources
On June 25th this year, BGCI’s
International Advisory Council met in
Geneva.
This global leadership forum comprises
the Directors of 25 gardens from the
USA, China, UK, Switzerland, Georgia,
France, Russia, Singapore, Australia,
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and South
Africa.
For the first time we have an effective,
representative forum driving policy for
our professional community.
Mobilising funding and resources
Accepting the challenge
Accepting the challenge
Accepting the challenge
Accepting the challenge
Who else are we expecting to
do the heavy lifting?
Our Mission is to mobilise botanic gardens and engage partners in securing plant diversity for the well-being of people and the planet
Connecting People • Sharing Knowledge • Saving Plants
Descanso House, 199 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3BW, UK www.bgci.org
@bgci