We are saddened to hear of the passing from Covid-19 of our esteemed plant conservation ally and friend, Art Whistler who has been working with us on our Global Tree Assessment (GTA) and Global Trees Campaign (GTC).

An expert on plants of Samoa and the South Pacific, Art worked for many years supporting botany, ethnobotany and plant conservation across the region. He produced many books, one of which caught the attention of the BGCI team working on GlobalTreeSearch in 2016: Rainforest Trees of Samoa. Art very kindly worked closely with the BGCI team to refine and improve the list of tree species of Samoa and American Samoa before the publication of the GlobalTreeSearch database in 2017.

Recently, the GTA/GTC team were delighted to have Art’s participation in a Red List training in Apia 2019. This has forged plans to complete Red List assessments for Samoan tree species in 2020, and to continue our practical conservation work in collaboration with the Samoa Conservation Society and Vailima Botanic Garden for saving native, threatened trees of Samoa.

Art is survived by his sister and two children. BGCI extends its condolences to all of Art’s many colleagues, friends and family. He will be sorely missed.