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The BGCI Contribution to the Implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

Volume 2 Number 2 - July 2005

Etelka Leadlay

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) was adopted at the sixth Conference of the Parties (COP6) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (Decision VI/9) held at The Hague, The Netherlands in April, 2002 (CBD, 2003). The Strategy has 16 Targets which need to be implemented by 2010.

The history of Botanic Garden Conservation International’s (BGCI) contribution up to the adoption of the GSPC has been reviewed by Peter Wyse Jackson (2002). This paper describes the ways in which BGCI is contributing to developing, promoting and implementing the Strategy at global and national levels and through botanic gardens and related institutions.

In February 2003 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) and BGCI, thus formalising BGCI’s contribution to the implementation of the Strategy. The aim of the MOU is to promote the further development, implementation and monitoring of the GSPC.

To meet the terms of the MOU, a BGCI member of staff, Ms. Stella Simiyu, based in Nairobi, has been seconded to the CBD Secretariat to act as the GSPC Programme Officer. This position (GSPC Programme Officer SCBD/BGCI), commenced on 1ST August, 2003. Financial support for this position and BGCI’s involvement in the implementation of the GSPC has been generously provided by HSBC, through the Investing in Nature partnership. Investing in Nature is a US$50 million, five year environmental partnership funded by HSBC, working with BGCI, Earthwatch and WWF. For more information, visit www.hsbc.com/investinginnature

Following the adoption of the GSPC, two meetings were held. The first (Liaison group meeting) was held at the Jardín Botánico”Guillermo Pineres”, Cartagena, Colombia, in October 2002 to review the development of sub-targets and milestones for each of the 16 targets included in the GSPC, and elaborate the baseline data available and necessary for monitoring (UNEP, 2002). The second meeting (Expert meeting) was held in Co. Kerry, Ireland in October 2003 to prepare a report for the ninth CBD’s Subsidiary Body for Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA9) which was held in Montréal, Canada in November, 2003 (UNEP, 2003a). Both these meetings were organised by the Executive Secretary to the Convention in collaboration with BGCI.

Global Partnership for Plant Conservation

The Expert meeting proposed that a global partnership for plant conservation be established, which would be open to all organisations that can contribute to the implementation of the Strategy (UNEP, 2003a). This was recommended by SBSTTA9 to COP7 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in February, 2004 (UNEP, 2003b). COP7 welcomed the establishment of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (GPPC) and encouraged the participating organisations to continue to contribute to the implementation of the Strategy (Decision VII/10). The meeting also invited other organisations to join the Partnership, and encouraged BGCI to continue its support for the partnership

The GPPC was launched at an event organised by BGCI on Friday 13th February, 2004 at COP7. The aim of the Partnership as elaborated in a statement released at the launch is: ‘To provide a framework to facilitate harmony between existing initiatives aimed at plant conservation, identify gaps where new initiatives are required, and promote mobilization of the necessary resources’.

BGCI agreed to continue to support the Partnership over the coming period, by providing the Secretariat and its Interim Chairman (Peter Wyse Jackson, former Secretary General, BGCI) in close cooperation with the GSPC Programme Officer.

An ad hoc meeting of representatives of Partnership member organisations was held in May, 2004, organised by BGCI to review the ways and means national implementation of the GSPC could be supported by the Partnership, while at the same time reviewing existing and suggesting new global level enabling activities (Kew, U.K.). The first full international meeting of the partnership is planned for October, 2005 (Dublin, Ireland).

The plans for the partnership are being developed and will be announced on the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation website (www.plants2010.org) which is maintained by BGCI.

Ex situ Conservation Target 8

At the Liaison group meeting international organisations were invited to lead and facilitate stakeholder consultations for each target. BGCI, together with the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) were proposed as joint lead institutions to assist in organising and facilitating stakeholder consultations on Target 8 of the GSPC. Target 8 of the GSPC is: 60% of threatened plant species in accessible ex situ collections, preferably in the country of origin, and 10% of them included in recovery and restoration programmes.

A review of the scope, terminology, base-line information, technical and scientific rationale of Target 8 included in the proposed Global Strategy for Plant Conservation was published by BGCI (Anon, 2003).

BGCI and IPGRI organised a stakeholder consultation meeting on Target 8 in July, 2003 at the National Botanic Garden, Brussels, Belgium. As a result of this consultation, a clarification of the scope, development of sub-targets, milestones, base-line data and indicators for monitoring progress towards achieving Target 8 and recommendations, proposals and timetable for action were made (Wyse Jackson et al., 2003).

Plant Search Database

As part of BGCI’s contribution to Target 8, BGCI has developed a Plant Search Database to identify all those plants in cultivation in botanic gardens. This database was launched on BGCI’s website (www.bgci.org) in 2003. By March 2005, the database held 125,961 taxa, of which 8,816 are known to be rare and threatened.. The plant records are linked to three databases – the 1997 and 2004 IUCN Red Lists of threatened plant species, the International Plant Names Index (IPNI) and Google’s image service which finds pictures on the web. The ability to cross reference the species with current red list data shows which threatened species are in cultivation and which need to be conserved. A user is able to identify a taxon in cultivation but not where is being held; the user can send a ‘blind’ e-mail to the gardens concerned and the gardens receiving the message can decide whether or not to respond. This means that gardens can add their plant collection details to the database in the knowledge that they will not be putting confidential information about the location of rare plants in the public domain.

BGCI is adapting their 1992 BGCI Propagation database for PlantNetwork (The Plant Collections Network of Britain and Ireland) for endangered British and Irish plants (Jebb, 2004). The Cultivation and Propagation Database Project being developed by PlantNetwork will be linked to the Plant Search Database; this database will help to promote the link to in situ conservation and monitor the achievement of the second part of Target 8: 10% of them [threatened plant species] included in recovery and restoration programmes. There is also a reintroduction database module under development.

This suite of databases is essential for monitoring the achievement of this Target.

Ex situ Conservation

BGCI is supporting many in country ex situ projects which contribute to the achievement of Target 8 in Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, India, China, Mexico and Russia through the HSBC Investing in Nature Programme (see examples in the box: BGCI supporting local initiatives to implement the GSPC).

Education and Public Awareness Target 14

Specific stakeholder consultations were not conducted on the cross cutting targets (targets 3, 14, 15 and 16) as these were expected to be considered by the consultations on each of the other targets. However the Expert meeting report to SBSTTA9 recommended that the importance of GSPC Target 14 was emphasized, and BGCI was invited to help facilitate a stakeholder consultation, involving expertise in communication, education and public awareness in relation to plant conservation. Target 14: The importance of plant diversity and the need for its conservation incorporated into communication, educational and public-awareness programmes.

The consultation process was developed to implement the education component of the GSPC. A consultation document on Target 14 of the GSPC was produced and distributed (January, 2004) to a wide number of organisations including BGCI members, the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (AABGA), Plantlife International, IUCN Commission on Education and Communication, United Nations Environent Programme (UNEP), WWF, Earthwatch, CBD Secretariat and the U.K Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

In March, 2004, BGCI staff participated in a meeting organised by the Botanic Gardens Education Network (BGEN) (London, U.K.) to respond to the consultation paper.

In April, 2004, BGCI held a workshop on Target 14 at the 2nd World Botanic Gardens Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Comments from the workshop have been useful in developing the next stages of the consultation process. This will involve an analysis of the CBD work programmes to determine how Target 14 can be implemented and the organisation of in-country consultation meetings.

BGCI education staff have held workshops and given many presentations on the GSPC and the importance of Target 14 over the last year to botanic garden and zoo educators in U.K., Germany, Hong Kong, Russia and Canada.

BGCI, botanic gardens and other botanical organisations have contributed to a most important reference book, Plant, the international version of which was published this year (Marinelli, 2005). This valuable reference book will contribute to the public understanding of the relationship between plants and the environment from a horticultural perspective.

The Education Department of BGCI has developed a series of informative and thought-provoking pages on the BGCI website within the education section to look at how education feeds into and contributes to the GSPC (http://www.bgci.org/education/).

Promotion: Communication and Raising Awareness

In May, 2003 the text of the GSPC in English was issued in a colour brochure, published by the Secretariat of the Convention in association with BGCI and supported by HSBC through the Investing in Nature partnership (CBD, 2003). A large print-run of 40,000 copies of the brochure was made so that copies could be sent to a wide range of organisations and institution throughout the world. BGCI has sent copies to over 2,200 botanic gardens worldwide. By the end December, 2004, 15,730 brochures had been distributed. Several language versions of the GSPC brochure have been prepared (Chinese, Russian and Spanish and a pdf version in French); the Chinese and Russian versions through the Investing in Nature Partnership. BGCI produced a CD-Rom, Plants for the Planet (BGCI, 2004) which included the text of the GSPC in four languages (English, French, Russian and Chinese).

BGCI publicises the progress of the GSPC in its serial publications, BGjournal, Roots and Cuttings and on its website.

BGCI staff have made presentations on the GSPC at national and international meetings and facilitated workshops for the development of strategies to implement the GSPC at national level and through botanic gardens. At the end of December, 2004 a total of 97 had been made including side events at SBSTTA and COP meetings.

BGCI and National responses to GSPC

BGCI staff have given presentations and contributed to workshops on developing national responses to the GSPC. For instance, BGCI staff were involved with the development of The Plant Diversity Challenge, the UK’s response to the GSPC which was published in February, 2004 (Cheffings et al.). BGCI collaborated with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of The Seychelles and a local NGO, the Plant Conservation Action Group (PCA) to plan a response by The Seychelles to the GSPC at a two-day workshop in March, 2004 (Beaver et al., 2005).

GSPC and Botanic Gardens

BGCI is developing, promoting and supporting the implementation of the GSPC through the botanic garden community. This also supports the cross-cutting Targets 15 (The number of trained people working with appropriate facilities in plant conservation increased, according to national needs, to achieve the targets of this Strategy) and Target 16 (Networks for plant conservation activities established or strengthened at national, regional and international levels). Examples of BGCI supporting local initiatives to implement the Targets of the GSPC through the botanic garden community can be seen in the Box BGCI supporting local initiatives to implement the GSPC

An important outcome of the 2nd World Botanic Gardens Congress was the development of the 2010 Targets for Botanic Gardens; these are a series of 20 targets for botanic gardens to be achieved by 2010, to help measure the achievement of the objectives of the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation (Wyse Jackson & Sutherland, 2000) and as a contribution towards the GSPC (Wyse Jackson, 2004).

The GSPC Targets and the 2010 Targets for Botanic Gardens have provided a framework for the development of botanic garden targets and strategies at national levels. For example BGCI staff contributed to the development of the draft Strategic Framework and Action Plan for the African Botanic Gardens Network (ABGN) which were aligned with the GSPC which was an outcome of the African Botanic Garden Congress – Partnerships and linkages in Durban, South Africa (November, 2002) (Willis et al., 2002).

BGCI (US) has taken the lead in facilitating the development of a North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Plant Conservation through a committee made up of four partner organisations: BGCI (US), CBCN (Canadian Botanical Conservation Network), CPC (Center for Plant Conservation) and the AABGA. BGCI staff from the U.K. contributed to the first meeting in Atlanta, Georgia (January, 2004). Subsequently, a work plan was devised and discussed at the 2nd World Botanic Gardens Congress by representatives from US gardens. HSBC’s Investing in Nature Programme sponsored a round table meeting (October, 2004) to review a document which had been revised at the annual AABGA meeting in Dallas (June, 2004) and another meeting of the partners was held in March, 2005 to review the final draft which consists of 19 clear outcome-orientated targets. The review process included the circulation of the document to hundreds of members of the botanic garden community.

References

Anon., 2003. Global Strategy for Plant Conservation: Target 8. BGCNews 3(10): 30-32. [http://www.plants2010.org/targets/target8.html]

Beaver, K, Matatiken, D., Dogley, D. and Kueffer, C, 2005. The challenge of GSPC – how a small tropical island state is responding. BGjournal 2(1): 5-6. [http://www.geobot.umnw.ethz.ch/staff/keuffer for download copies of the PCA newsletter Kapisen]

CBD, 2003. Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity [http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/cross-cutting/plant/default.asp, 2005; See also 2005, www.bgci.org/conservation/strategy] [Copies are available from the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, World Trade Centre, 393 St. Jacques, Suite 300, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 1N9 (Tel: +1 (514) 288-2220; Fax: +1 (514) 288 6588; E-mail: secretariat@biodiv.org; website: http://www.biodiv.org, or from BGCI)]

Cheffings,C., Harper, M. & Jackson, A., 2004. Plant Diversity Challenge - The UK's response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. JNCC, Plantlife & RBG, Kew

Jebb, Matthew, 2004. Cultivation and Propagation Database. PlantNetwork Newsletter 26:11.

Marinelli, J., 2005. Plant. DK Publishing, New York.

Sharrock, S., 2004. Databases and local action: Progress from BGCI on ex situ conservation Plant Talk 38: 34-35

Simiyu, S. & Wyse Jackson, P., 2003. Progress during 2003 in the implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. BGCNews 4(1): 4-5.

UNEP, 2002. Report on the liaison group meeting on the global strategy for plant conservation (UNEP/CBD/LG-GSPC/1/2)

UNEP, 2003a.. Report of the expert meeting on the global strategy for plant conservation UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/9/INF/24

UNEP, 2003b. Report of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice on the work of its ninth meeting. UNEP/CBD/COP/7/4 Annex IX/14 Global Strategy for Plant Conservation p144-145).

Willis, C.K., Owusu-Afriyie, G.. and Dalzell, C., 2002. Launch of the African Botanic Gardens Network BGCNews 3(9): 35-38.

Wyse Jackson, P., 2002. Development and adoption of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation by the Convention on Biological Diversity: an NGO’s perspective. BGCNews 3(8): 25-32.

Wyse Jackson, P. 2004. Developing international targets for botanic gardens in conservation: a consultation document. BGjournal 1(1): 4-6

Wyse Jackson, P.S. and Sutherland, L.A., 2000. International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation. BGCI, London, U.K.

Wyse Jackson, P., Gibbs, D. and Dulloo, E., 2003. Global Strategy for Plant Conservation: Target 8. BGCNews 4(1): 27-30.

The GSPC - A Plan to Save the World's Plant Species

Working through a unique partnership of international and national organisations, Parties, other Governments and NGOs, the 'Convention on Biological Diversity' has developed a "Global Strategy for Plant Conservation". Botanic gardens are getting involved and BGCI is a key player in the partnership.