Cultivate Issue 14: Can You See the Money Growing on the Trees?

Dear Cultivator

It's been a long time since I sent out the last Cultivate, probably because in the meantime I have been to two major events, the Education Congress and Eurogard IV.

They've offered a great opportunity for me to meet many of you, and escape from the virtual world of the desk. It's also been good preparation for the next major event: the 3rd Global Botanic Gardens Congress, in China.

At these meetings I started to think about how we value botanic gardens. Why are they sometimes so poorly supported? Is it to do with the wider problem, that people take nature for granted? How can we change perceptions and encourage greater value to be given to plants and their custodians?

It seems to me that a great deal more value could be generated, with a little imagination and inspiration, like that which I found at the meetings and can share with you in this issue. Thanks to Bob Ursem and Katerina Grigoriadou for their stories.

Until next time, keep your feedback and contributions coming in,

Sarah Dixon
Editor
cultivate@bgci.org

Industrial Innovation Profits People and Plants

Bob Ursem has been helping scientists at the Delft University of Technology Botanic Garden discover new ways of applying plant science to industry, with extraordinary results.

In this article he shows how teaming up with new departments and scientists can bring huge rewards to a garden.

Inspiration starts here

Anti-Wrinkle Creams and Rock Candy

A group at the Balkan Botanic Garden of Kroussia have been working on some model projects for relieving market pressure for plant derivatives from wild populations of rare plants.

They've worked out how to bring wild plants into cultivation, and shared their knowledge with commercial organisations.

Katerina Grigoriadou can tell you more...

Those of you who had the chance to join us at the "Nature of Success: Success for Nature" Education Congress in Oxford will, I hope, agree with the feedback that it was 'the best ever'.

Proceedings are now available online so if you want to review, lost your Congress CD or weren't able to make it, you can browse at your leisure through the great range of material that was under discussion. You can also request a Proceedings CD-ROM by post.

Read more about Success for Nature

Putting the Right Price on Nature: Environmental Economics

This Policy Brief from SciDevNet is an excellent introduction to how we can place economic value on natural products and services, thus helping policymakers to value nature more properly.

20 Years of Growth for BGCI

Wangari Maathai to Join BGCI for 20th Birthday Celebrations - BGCI are pleased to announce that we will be hosting a public lecture by Nobel Peace Prize winner and environment activist Wangari Maathai early next year.

The event marks the start of a year of 20th anniversary celebrations for BGCI. We'd love to hear from you about how BGCI has made a difference over the past two decades - so please tell us your story.