News published 20 February 2026

Statement on Living Collections Data Ecosystem planning, development and management for botanic gardens

Through this Statement BGCI expresses its willingness to step forward and lead this effort. Specifically, we commit to:

Lead and coordinate efforts to plan, develop and manage an accessible, equitable and effective living collections data ecosystem in botanic gardens. The purpose is to enable living plant material and its associated data to be effectively managed and shared to support conservation, research, sustainable development and education.

To realise this commitment, BGCI will convene a Living Collections Data Advisory Group and a Living Collections Data Working Group. The Working Group will report to the Advisory Group, and the latter will report to BGCI’s International Advisory Council (and, by extension, to BGCI’s Board). In both groups we will ensure globally representative participation from different regions, groups, needs and expertise. Permanent or temporary task forces may be appointed to work on specific aspects of Living Collections Data, e.g. standards and definitions, ABS, integration with other sectors etc. These groups will be constituted for an initial period of three years, and may be extended by a decision of the BGCI Board.

To realise this commitment, we envisage the following steps:

1. Define scope, principles, alignment and external contributions and connections (for a draft, see below).
2. Define data ecosystem objectives.
3. In the definition phase, consult external expertise, including relevant biodiversity data systems.
4. Decision by the IAC and BGCI Board of Trustees on the definitions and the objectives.
5. Propose and undertake funding initiatives and resource mobilisation to support achievement and implementation of the data ecosystem, including capacity building for data quality and data availability in the botanic gardens
6. Explore a number of alternative solutions, including funding mechanisms and governance structure (that adheres to the definitions decided in point 4.
7. Recommendation by the IAC and decision by the BGCI Board of Trustees.
8. Implement the chosen solution with a high degree of involvement of the botanic garden community.
9. Drive and monitor progress in achieving data ecosystem objectives and report to the IAC and Board of Trustees.

Through this process, we envision:

• Equipping botanic garden leaders with information and insights to champion living collections and their management, towards BGCI’s aim that ex situ conservation will become a strategic institutional priority, embedded at the heart of every botanic garden’s mission.
• BGCI-hosted platforms and tools being treated as a global reference layer, not simply reporting tools.
• Community investment is concentrated on strengthening and integrating existing infrastructure rather than trying to create something completely new.
• Support is reframed as shared infrastructure investment, scaled to institutional capacity.
• BGCI will propose a tiered scheme for sustainable and ongoing financial and in-kind contributions, recognising regional differences in fundraising ability, as well as allowing for the solicitation of larger funds for specific builds and elements.
• Fragmented commercial expenditure is slowly reduced over time by pooling resources collectively, and incorporating free to access living collections management software.
• Relevant external, non-botanic garden partners are engaged once steps 1 and 2 above are in place and actioned.
• Partners contribute clearly defined capabilities (for example, spatial analysis or decision-support), in support of BGCI-hosted tools.

BGCI’s International Advisory Council will schedule two meetings this year – one online and one face to face in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Garden in China during the week commencing 7th September 2026. This topic will be top of the agenda at both meetings. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly or via info@bgci.org

Dr Paul Smith, Secretary General, BGCI

Dr Peter Wyse Jackson, Chair of BGCI Board

HRH Princess Basma bint Ali, Chair of BGCI’s International Advisory Council