News published 6 May 2025

His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan inaugurated the second phase of the Royal Botanic Garden, Jordan in Tal Al Rummanon on 30 April 2025.

The Royal Botanic Garden includes more than 600 species of plants, in addition to a nursery with a production capacity of 100,000 seedlings per year. His Majesty toured the garden and its facilities, and was briefed by HRH Princess Basma bint Ali, founder of the Royal Botanic Garden, on its role in preserving native wild plants and the right to use those plants, promoting scientific research, and optimising the use of natural resources, according to a Royal Court statement.

HRH Princess Basma bint Ali also welcomed in person the International Advisory Council, and hosted a hybrid meeting were we discussed:

• Creating a global information ecosystem that empowers botanic gardens to connect, share, and analyse their living collections data, enabling informed, collaborative and collective decisions to manage and safeguard plant diversity (Paul Smith – BGCI)
• How BGSmartR – an open access living collections analysis tool – can help garden leadership make decisions on their collections (Sam Brockington – Cambridge University Botanic Garden)
• Implementing the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (Peter Wyse Jackson – Chair of the BGCI Board)
• Update on progress of the work of the Illegal Plant Trade Coalition in combating plant poaching (Nicole Cavender – The Huntington)
• Selection of the venue and host for the 12^th International Conference on Education in Botanic Gardens, 2028 (Paul Smith – BGCI)
• Reports from the regions

BGCI would like to thank HRH Princess Basma bint Ali for her hospitality.