(Los Jardines Botánicos Argentinos: Situación y Perspectivas para Desarrollar Tareas en el Campo de la Conservación de Especies)
Abstract
The challenge to become useful agents in regional plant species
conservation finds the Argentine botanic gardens immersed in a
very profound crisis.
This situation has many origins: on one hand the majority of the
institutions themselves have not managed to become recognized
scientific, educational and recreational centres, nor have they
developed ways of communicating amongst themseleves and with their
equivalents abroad. On the other hand there is a generalized
underestimation of their importance by the authorities they depend
on.
In spite of the magnitude of these problems, the devotion of the
majority of their directors and personnel, the richness of the
region's flora and the level and continuing history of botanical
science in the country increase the potential of the gardens to
make an effective contribution in the area of plant conservation.
Work appraisal, coordination of effort, information transfer and
interaction with other Argentine and foreign gardens are some
of the more critical areas for action.
Resumen
El desafío de convertirse en herramientas para la preservación
de los recursos naturales de la región encuentra a los
jardinos botánicos argentinos en medio de una profunda
crisis que en muchos casos llega a amenazar su continuidad en
el tiempio.
Este hecho tiene origines endógenos y exógenos a
los jardines; por un lado las propias instituciones no han conseguido
una inserción social como centros reconocidos de educación
y esparcimiento público ni han desarrollado estrategias
su continuidad proviene del exterior ya que al tratarse en su
mayoría de entidades dependientes en forma directa del
Estado no escapan de la crisis generalizada que genera una política
de recortes presupuestarios hacia la educación y la investigación
científica. A esto se suma el escaso reconocimiento académico
con que cuenta el trabajo en los jardines botánicos lo
que los convierte en areas poco atractivas para los jóvenes
graduados.
En medio de este estado de cosas se destacan los esfuerzos de
la mayoría de los directivos que desvían tiempo
de otras tareas para mantener sus instituciones en funcionamiento.
Toda esta situación contrasta con la variedad y riqueza
de la flora nativa de la región y con la historia y el
nivel de la investigación botánica en nuestro país,
realidades que aumentan la potencialidad de los jardines para
convertirse en verdaderos centros de conservación de especies
cumpliendo un rol protagónico en la perservación
de los recursos y el desarrollo de la región a través
de su múltiple dimensión científico-téchnica
y educativa. Para ello se avisora como muy importante el establecimiento
de una comunicación efectiva entra las instituciones del
país y la posibilidad de acceder a programas de cooperación
internacional, luchando simultaneamente por conseguir el reconocimiento
público de su importancia y la jerarquización del
trabajo en el área.
Introduction and Methods
The Argentine Republic has a continental area slightly above 2.7 million square kilometres. In its vast territory there exists a great edaphic, topographic and climatic variety. Consequently an great floristic abundance can also be observed. This diversity has undoubtedly been one of the reasons for the important development of botanical science in the country. Within this field of knowledge, botanic gardens stand out as characteristic manifestations of the interest in the knowledge and spread of the regional flora and its importance. The most traditional botanic gardens date from the beginning of this century and more modern ones have been added since.
Between June and September 1991, I developed a national survey on botanic gardens with the purpose of determining their situation and in order to propose actions for them to take in order to play a more prominent part in regional species preservation.
I designed the form used for this study following recommendations by Vernon Heywood from BGCI, with some modifications for structural adaptation to conform to the reality of Argentine institutions. informatiomn recorded included facilities characteristics, the institutional general organization, the relationship with other scientific centres, personnel availability, information storage systems, collection features, educational activities and financing.
I visited all botanic gardens within the country to personally interview directors and other people with different tasks assigned in every institution, to examine facilities and to observe their situation.
Results
There exist in the Argentine Republic sixteen botanical gardens distributed in nine provinces, especially concentrated in the Federal Capital and in Buenos Aires suburbs where almost 30% of the total are located. They represent seven of the twelve phytogeographic provinces within the country, extending from sea-level to 2 600 m. Considering their administrative characteristics they can be grouped into four categories:
Gardens depending on national universities
They represent 44% of the total and were created as complementary tools for the training of professionals in the natural sciences. The great majority of them depend on agricultural departments, and their collections are especially rich in cultivated plants. They have not escaped the present financial crisis affecting Argentine universities and experience, in general, facility deficiencies as well as personnel shortages and inadequate preparation and training for working in the field. The majority do not receive specific budget appropriations. Working in these gardens attracts little academic recognition and therefore is not attractive to young graduates. A great number of them are supported almost exclusively by the work and advocacy of the teaching staff directing them.
In spite of these deficiencies they benefit from the advantage of being directly related to scientific information-generation centres and enjoy easy access to specialized libraries, herbaria and laboratories.
Gardens depending on Scientific Research Institutions
They represent 25% of the botanical gardens in the country. As in the previous case, even when they have very important scientific support they have only been occasionally used as tools in natural resources studies. Nonetheless, very interesting plans have been elaborated to incorporate them into new field projects.
In general, they suffer from a marked deterioration and have been quite close to disappearing, leaving, in some cases, space for other areas within the institutions they depend upon.
Municipal Gardens
This category groups the 18% of the national botanical gardens that depend upon local administrations mainly with educational objectives. They are greatly affected by the present economic crisis. Nonetheless, this might not be the greatest obstacle they face, considering the general lack of recognition of their importance on the part of the authorities; this cause constant delays in satisfying their most elementary needs.
In spite of these limitations these gardens are entities with a key role in education: they depend upon municipalities also having under their jurisdiction part of the primary and high school level educational institutions coordination. This situation could be very useful and advantageous in facilitating the coordination of formal education programmes.
Private Gardens
They constitute the remaining 13% and depend almost exclusively upon their proprietors' dedication and other collaborators, such as cooperative societies or associations of friends, for funding. They lack formal scientific support from botanical institutions even when they are related to these centres (chiefly through personal contacts). Mainly driven by the enthusiasm of their directors, they have established contacts with international bodies.
Main deficiencies
From the thorough study of Argentine botanical gardens it appears that the majority of them have the following problems:
The directors said that the public recognition of their role was good for 6%, scarce for 69% and nonexistent for 25% of the institutions surveyed.
Only five institutions note various attempts to cover their own expenses through entrance fees, courses or lectures organization, or the selling of ornamental species.
Recommendations
In spite of the magnitude of the problems here exposed, both regional native flora richness and variety, as well as the level and history of botanical research in the Argentine Republic, increase botanic gardens' potential to become active centres for species preservation. Thus I consider that the following actions should be taken into consideration when attempting their reactivation.
2. Promote botanic garden appreciation and recognition among local political and scientific authorities. Obtain support from international institutions and prestigious botanic gardens for the organization of courses, lectures and meetings.
3. Develop cooperation programmes sponsored by international institutions and foreign botanical gardens for the training of personnel abroad and the financing of specific scientific and educational projects. One possibility could be the sponsoring of local institutions by foreign ones with larger resources availability, as is the case of national parks and other natural reserves in both hemispheres.
4. Promote research work development, for example undergraduate monographs and graduate theses on topics related to wild regional species that are or could be included into the botanic garden collection.
5. Appraise work in botanical gardens at all levels, from management to gardening. Take advantage of already existing educational institutions, such as agricultural and gardening schools for personnel formation and training.
6. Stimulate the creation of cooperative societies and associations of friends of the botanical garden. These groups can stimulate activities and collaborate in obtaining funds, besides becoming pressure groups which once formed could be helpful in maintaining institutional policies and objectives.
7. Develop education strategies. Recruit trained personnel to carry out educational activities. Identify and characterize the public who regularly visit the botanic garden and the potential visitors. Select the activities that best meet their expectations and needs.
8. Try complementary financing measures such as course fees, publicity, selling of ornamental species, as far as they do not interfere with the garden's objectives.
In summary, both the acceleration of environmental degradation and the new trends in natural resource preservation currently confront Argentine botanic gardens with their greatest challenges.
Even if theirs is a very profound crisis, they none the less count on the support of the important tradition, history and high level of botanical research within the country.
Work appraisal, coordination of effort, information transfer and interaction with Argentine and similar foreign institutions constitute some of the more promising actions to give them the key role they are called on to play in regional plant species conservation.
Acknowledgements
This survey was funded by WWF-US and coordinated by Dr. Enrique Forero, whose advice greatly helped my work. I thank the Department of Biology of the Universidad Nacional del Sur for allowing me to conduct this research.
Many thanks to the Argentine Botanic Garden's authorities and personnel for their help and hospitality and for keeping their gardens breathing.
Appendix: Argentine Botanical Gardens Directory
Appendix (cont.): Argentine Botanical Gardens Directory
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