Key target in Global Strategy for Plant Conservation reviewed in new BGCI report
BGCI's 12 page report 'Saving Plants, Saving the Planet - Botanic gardens and the implementation of GSPC Target 8' concludes that progress towards the adopted 2010 target has been good but we’ve yet to meet it, and that a higher target for 2020 should be adopted.
The 2010 aim of Target 8 was 60 percent of threatened plants in accessible ex situ collections, preferably in the country of origin and 10 percent of them included in recovery and restoration programmes. Botanic Gardens, who undertake ex situ conservation have an a vital role; as the report notes ‘in the face of an uncertain future, an urgent priority must be conservation though seed-banking and living collections for as many plants as possible, by way of an insurance policy’'. The report describes a critical tool used in the monitoring Target 8, PlantSearch created by BGCI.
Sharrock, Botanic Gardens Conservation International’s Director of Global Programmes and one of the report’s authors said
“Plants are the basis of all life of Earth and it is essential that plant diversity is conserved for the benefit of future generations. BGCI will continue to work with botanic gardens to promote the implementation of the 2020 targets for plant conservation that we hope will be adopted at COP10. “