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Cooperation between botanic gardens in the Baltic Sea region
23rd September 2009

The beautiful city of Vilnius, Lithuania was the setting for the second international conference on cooperation between botanic gardens in the Baltic Sea region.  The meeting was hosted at Vilnius University Botanical Garden from 15th - 18th September 2009. 

Participants included representatives from botanic gardens in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Lativia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.  The conference was the result of cooperation between the Swedish steering group in Visby and the Botanic Garden in Vilnius and was generously supported by the Swedish International Development Agency, following the network’s first meeting held by the Swedish steering group at DBW Botanic Garden, Visby, last year.

Talks described the breadth and quality of conservation, research and education work that is occurring in the region’s botanic gardens. With the difficult global financial situation and the progress of the network in mind, Lauren Evans was invited from BGCI to talk about fundraising in a time of change. David Rae from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh discussed his experience of the foundation, development and objectives of PlantNetwork – the plant collections network of Britain and Ireland. 

Facilitated by Leif Schulman, the Director of Helsinki University Botanical Garden, clear, tangible goals to achieve by next year’s meeting were set out, under the four themes of:

  • staff exchange;
  • public relations;
  • a collaborative research project on monitoring phenology; and
  • a conservation assessment of endangered species held in each participating garden’s ex situ collections. 

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