Volume 10, Issue 02
May 2007
bulletin français
Table of Contents
  1. A note from CBCN Executive Director
  2. Message from Ahmed Djoghlaf
  3. Plant conservation in a changing world
  4. Preparing to Launch the North American Botanic Gardens Conservation Strategy
  5. Biodiversity, climate change, and cultural diversity
  6. The urgent need for biodiversity information
  7. Adapting to a Changing World
  8. The Canadian University Biodiversity Consortium and a new biodiversity center at the Montréal Botanical Garden
  9. Stopping the Green Invasion! Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden Takes Aim at Invasive Alien Species
  10. What's Coming Up at CITES CoP 14
  11. Letter from Wuhan: A report on the Third Global Botanic Gardens Congress
  12. The Montréal Botanical Garden Formally Reinforces its Commitment to Biodiversity Conservation, and hosts a Wollemi Pine
  13. Meeting of the Canadian Pollination Protection Initiative
  14. Summer is around the corner. Make it count!
  15. First Sustainability Camp: a Success
  16. Earth Day Celebration at UBC Botanical Garden

Upcoming educational events:

(Events are posted in the language(s)
in which they are presented):

June 10-14, 2007
Plant Canada - Annual Conference of the Federation of Canadian Plant Science Societies
Saskatoon , Saskatchewan

For more information:
www.plantcanada.ca/2007.htm
Includes annual meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association

June 26-30, 2007
Defining Your Garden's Culture
American Public Gardens Association Annual Conference

Washington, D.C.
www.aabga.org

June 26-30, 2007
Annual Conference, American Public Gardens Association
Washington, DC, USA

for more information:
www.publicgardens.org
Includes round-table luncheon for Canadian delegates

June 27, 2007
9th International Pollination Symposium on Plant-pollinator Relationships.
Ames, Iowa, USA
www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/
plantbee/home.html

July 1–5, 2007
21st Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology (Theme: One World, One Conservation, One Partnership)
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
www.nmmu.ac.za/scb/

July 1-6, 2007
12th meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) for the Convention on Biological Diversity
Paris, France

For more information:
www.biodiv.org

July 2-6, 2007/ du 2 au 6 juillet 2007
Learning for a Changing World: 4th World Environmental Education Congress
Apprendre dans un monde en changement: Congrès international de l'éducation à l'environnement
Durban, South Africa/ Afrique du Sud
www.weec2007.com

July 7–11, 2007
Plant Biology & Botany 2007 (The American Society for Plant Biologists)
Chigago, USA
www.aspb.org/meetings/pb-2007

July 23 - 24, 2007
Meeting of the Biosafety Clearing-House Informal Advisory Committee (BCH-IAC)
Montreal, Canada

September 10 - 12, 2007
Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Technology Transfer and Scientific and Technological Cooperation
Montreal, Canada

September 17 - 21, 2007
9th International Conference on the Ecology and Management of Alien Plant Invasions
Perth, Australia
www.congresswest.com.au/emapi9/

September 30, 2007
Global Vision of Forestry in the 21st Century
Toronto, Canada

October 8 - 12, 2007
Fifth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefitsharing (ABSWG-5)
Montreal, Canada

October 15 - 19, 2007
Fifth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article 8(j) and Related Provisions (WG8J-5)
Montreal, Canada

October 22 - 26, 2007
Fourth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group of Legal and Technical Experts on Liability and Redress in the context of the Protocol
Montreal, Canada

May 19-30, 2008
Ninth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-9)
Bonn, Germany

For more information:
www.biodiv.org

November 14-17, 2007
North American Environmental Education Association
2007 Conference

"Explore New Horizons for Environmental Education"
Virginia Beach, Virginia
www.naaee.org/conference

Subscription information

If you would like to subscribe, have any questions or if would like to contribute a news item, please contact Yann Vergriete, newsletter editor or David Gailbraith, CBCN executive director:

yannvergriete@fastmail.fm
(514) 872-5420

dgalbraith@rbg.ca
(905) 527-1158 ext. 309

Acknowledgements

We would like thank the following for their contributions and support:

Translation: Élizabeth Eudes-Pascal and Matthew Everitt
Design & Layout: Cheryl Fraser
Sponsors: Department of Canadian Heritage, Museums Assistance Program
Partners: Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Canadian Botanical Conservation Network, and the Montréal Botanical Garden

Editorial

Dear readers,

We are happy to present the new edition of the Canadian Botanical Conservation Network Newsletter, a newly combined effort with the Canadian Botanical Gardens Educator’s Network Newsletter. This collaboration will offer a forum for exchange wherein the various issues regarding the conservation of plant biodiversity are addressed (scientific, applied and public awareness issues). This new approach will also enable us to work together to ensure the long-term continuity of this relationship.

In order to highlight the International Day for Biological Diversity, May 22nd, this edition of the Newsletter is devoted to the topic of Biological Diversity and Climate Change. As such, several articles address this increasingly important and topical issue.

This Newsletter is above all your Newsletter: we trust that you will feel free to share your viewpoints on the topics that matter to you, in any way you deem fit. We’ve adopted a new format which is more reader-friendly as it relates to the length of articles. We strongly encourage you to share your ideas, comments, topics of interest, and articles with us.

You will notice that this edition is entirely bilingual: all the articles are presented in French and English. For budgetary reasons, it will unfortunately be impossible for us to maintain this level of bilingualism in the following editions, and we will have to limit translations to the summary of articles. As such, we would invite you to submit your articles in both official languages, if at all possible.

With particular thanks to our collaborators for their contributions for this edition of the Newsletter,

Happy reading!

Yann Vergriete

1. A note from CBCN Executive Director, David Galbraith, Royal Botanical Gardens

I'd like to welcome all CBCN Newsletter and Canadian Botanic Gardens Education Newsletter readers to our first joint issue! Starting with this issue, CBCN Newsletter, which has been published in various forms since 1996, will be merged and updated by the addition of the newsletter of the Canadian Botanic Gardens Educators Network as established under Investing in Nature: A Partnership for Plants in Canada.> more

 

2. Message from Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary to the Convention on Biological Diversity on the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, May 22nd 2007

Climate change is real. The UN’s lead scientific authority on climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its most recent report, prepared by 2500 experts from 130 countries, has indicated that the concentration of CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere is of a level not seen for some 650,000 years. The cause: human activities. > more

 

 

3. Plant conservation in a changing world, Suzanne Sharrock, BGCI

The world’s climate is presently changing more rapidly than at any time in human history. Such climatic changes are intimately connected with plants, which harness the energy of the sun through photosynthesis and maintain ecosystems for all life on earth. According to recent estimates, more than 100,000 plant species are currently threatened with extinction. However, the rate of extinction is expected to increase further as global temperatures continue to rise, and as many as half of the estimated 400,000 plant species in existence today may be under threat. > more

4. Preparing to Launch the North American Botanic Gardens Conservation Strategy, David Galbraith, Royal Botanical Gardens

There has been an almost continuous effort since 2000 to link the missions and programs of botanical gardens around the world with international movements like the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity, and the more recent Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. The newest publication in this effort is being published this summer and is called the North American Botanic Gardens Conservation Strategy. > more

 

 

5. Biodiversity, climate change, and cultural diversity, Alain Cuerrier, Jardin Botanique de Montréal

Most people, researchers and laymen alike, view biodiversity in terms of biology without giving due consideration to First Nations and their cultural components. More and more publications and studies acknowledge the importance of putting culture in the biodiversity equation. But the merging of scientific and traditional knowledge is still far from equal. The balance shifts inexorably towards science which then reduces tradition to a mere quotation of good will. In the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD), cultural diversity has also been established as an important role (see Art. 8j). Not only are rare, endangered or vulnerable species to be protected but so are medicinal species and, moreover, species used in ritual or those who have simply a local, social importance. In order to protect any taxon, it is essential to make use of all available data. > more

Mr. Tivi Etok
Photo: The Montréal Botanical Garden

6. The urgent need for biodiversity information, Tom Hammond, IUCN

Environmental degradation and species loss continue to accelerate. Around the world, conservation and scientific organizations are working against time to close critical knowledge gaps in order to conserve biodiversity and the Earth’s life support systems. Investment and development decisions are often taken with an incomplete picture of potential impacts on biodiversity. While solutions may be found to reverse these trends, this will only be possible with comprehensive data, information and knowledge on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. > more

7. Adapting to a Changing World, Krista Blackborow & Dianne Watkins, Biodiversity Convention Office of Environment Canada

In keeping with this year’s International Biodiversity Day theme, the April 16, 2007 meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Biodiversity Working Group in Winnipeg, Manitoba included a one-day symposium on Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation. > more

Photo: Biodiversity Convention Office, Environment Canada

8. The Canadian University Biodiversity Consortium and a new biodiversity center at the Montréal Botanical Garden, Anne Bruneau, Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, Université de Montréal

The Canadian University Biodiversity Consortium is a partnership headed by the Université de Montréal, in collaboration with the universities of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Toronto, Guelph, York, McGill, Laval, Acadia and Memorial, the Montreal Botanical Garden, University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, Devonian Botanical Garden, Harriet Irving Botanical Garden, Memorial University Botanical Garden and the Royal Ontario Museum. The Consortium was recently funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation programme to a total of 16 million dollars. This Consortium unites Canadian researchers from multiple disciplines, renowned for their expertise in a diversity of taxonomic groups, tools and approaches. > more

Anne Bruneau
Photo: The Montréal Botanical Garden

9. Stopping the Green Invasion! Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden Takes Aim at Invasive Alien Species, Costa Kasimos & Joy Barfoot, MUN Botanical Garden

If you’ve ever driven onto one of the ferries leaving Newfoundland, you’ve probably been pleasantly surprised by the complimentary car wash…until you see that they only cleaned the bottom of your car. This is but one of many programs across the country designed to prevent the spread of invasive alien species; in this case the Golden Nematode (a potato disease). Canada, as well as mostother countries, has been forced to deal with the multi-billion dollar problems associated with alien species. > more

 

Centaurea nigra
Photo: MUN Botanical Garden

10. What’s Coming Up at CITES CoP 14, Adrianne Sinclair, CITES Scientific Advisor for Plant Trade

The 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) will take place from June 3 to 15, 2007, in the Hague, Netherlands. The CoP meets every three years to amend the list of species regulated under the Convention in Appendices I and II. Species listed in Appendix I are endangered because of international trade and those in Appendix II could become endangered if trade is not regulated. > more

11. Letter from Wuhan: A report on the Third Global Botanic Gardens Congress, David Galbraith, Royal Botanical Gardens

Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Wuhan Botanical Garden and the Chinese Academy of Sciences organized a very exciting and productive global congress for botanical gardens involved in conservation in April, 2007. more

Congress delegates at the botanical garden prior to the official meeting
Photo: David Galbraith

 

12. The Montréal Botanical Garden Formally Reinforces its Commitment to Biodiversity Conservation, and hosts a Wollemi Pine, Yann Vergriete, Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, The Montréal Botanical Garden

The City of Montreal recently signed an agreement bringing together Muséums nature Montréal (the Montréal Botanical Garden being one of its four constituents) with the Steering Committee of the Consortium of Scientific Partners on Biodiversity (from the international Convention on Biological Diversity). The sharing of expertise and the development of knowledge as it relates to species conservation will be highly beneficial. Moreover, with 1.7 million annual visitors, the Museums offer an exceptional window from which the Secretariat, as well as the issues connected to the loss of biological diversity, can communicate their messages to a larger audience. > read more

Photo: The Montréal Botanical Garden

13. Meeting of the Canadian Pollination Protection Initiative

The first meeting of the Canadian Pollinator Protection Initiative (CPPI) was held in Ottawa from January 18-19, 2007 and was attended by over 80 delegates from the bee industry, federal and provincial governments, academia, museums, and environmental and agricultural NGOs. This Initiative represents an expansion of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) into Canada and serves to link Canadian pollinator conservation with similar activities in the USA and Mexico. > more

From left to right: Laurie Adams ; Vernon Thomas ; Peter Kevan ; Anne Breau ; Maria MacRae ; Elizabeth Kilvert ; Charles Caccia ; Steve Javorek ; David Suzuki (special guest).
Photo: Vicki Wojcik

14. Summer is around the corner. Make it count! Join the Pollination Canada Buzz, Valérie Girard, Seeds of Diversity Canada

Seventy percent of our food crops need insects for pollination. Most wild plants, and small animals that eat seeds, could not survive without them. Not only bees and butterflies; there are over 1000 species of pollinating insects in Canada! Unfortunately, these beneficial insects are under pressure from loss of habitat, loss of food sources, disease, pesticides, and there is a growing concern about what impact climate change will have on insect pollinators. As insect populations are threatened, so are fruit and vegetable production, as well as the wild ecosystems that depend on these pollinators. Information is needed now, so that steps can be taken to preserve pollinator populations. > more

15. First Sustainability Camp: a Success, John Platenius, Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation

The Tofino Botanical Gardens Foundation is pleased to announce that its first Sustainability Camp was a resounding success. The goal of Sustainability Camp is to increase youth knowledge and awareness about global and local environmental issues, with the hope that this increased awareness will help the next generation to develop solutions and inspire action for positive environmental and social change. > more

Sustainability Camp students cleaning up plastic debris on Long Beach as part of the curriculum's pollution module.
Photo: Tofino Botanical Garden Foundation

16. Earth Day Celebration at UBC Botanical Garden, Nadine Diner, UBC Botanical Garden

The UBC Botanical Garden is Canada's oldest continuously operating university botanical garden, established in 1916 under the directorship of John Davidson. The original mission of the garden was research into the native flora of British Columbia. Since its inception, the mission of the Garden has broadened. Our collections now include over 8000 different plants from around the globe in 12 000 separate accessions. Many of these plants are wild-collected. Our mandate has also broadened to include the use of our collections for the purposes of research, conservation, teaching and public display. We find opportunities in all Garden initiatives to connect these themes. > more

Photo: UBC Botanical Garden

 


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Yann Vergriete
Project coordinator
Institut de recherche en biologie végétale
The Montréal Botanical Garden
4101, rue Sherbrooke Est
Montréal (Québec) H1X 2B2
CANADA

www.bgci.org/canada