Editorial: The International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation and the 2010 Targets for Botanic Gardens
Volume 3 Number 1 - January 2006
The International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation provides a framework for the development of botanic garden policies and programmes for conservation (Wyse Jackson and Sutherland). The International Agenda was drawn up with input from the botanic garden community worldwide and has proved to be a major influence in shaping the direction of botanic gardens.
Although each botanic garden is very different and it would be impossible for every garden to achieve all the tasks and recommendations outlined in the International Agenda, it gives guidance on how each botanic garden can develop its own role in conservation that is appropriate to its resources and relevant to the local, regional and environmental issues. The activities (211) have been compiled into a spreadsheet which helps individual institutions judge whether they are engaged in a particular recommendation, might do so in the future or are not doing it now nor contemplating such action in the future(Galbraith, 2003). This is shown in SANBI’s institutional response to the International Agenda. This spreadsheet has been developed into an interactive tool by BGCI (U.S.) and will be posted on the website shortly.
The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) sets out a challenge for governments and the wider biodiversity community to achieve 16 outcome-orientated targets by 2010 based on five sub-objectives (CBD, 2003*). The International Agenda was published before the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) and the structure is different. However, the activities of the International Agenda cover all GSPC five sub-objectives and 16 targets. Botanic gardens can thus play an important role in the supporting the GSPC when they sign up to the International Agenda.
A series of 20 targets for botanic gardens worldwide have been developed and agreed as a contribution to meeting the GSPC targets by 2010 (see Box below: 2010 Targets for botanic gardens and posted on the BGCI website). The 2010 Targets for botanic gardens developed at the 2nd World Botanic Gardens Congress in 2004, provides a mechanism to measure the achievement of the International Agenda for addressing the GSPC. These targets also provide guidance for developing national and regional targets for botanic garden networks – as for example in the U.K. (Jebb, 2005) and in the North American region and Europe.
This issue of BGjournal shows how botanic gardens are working according to the framework provide by the International Agenda and at the same time implementing the targets of the GSPC through the botanic garden targets.
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, accessed November, 2005] Reference throughout this issue of BGjournal.
Galbraith, D., 2003. IABGC Analysis Worksheet for Individual Institutions. Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, Canada [unpublished]
Jebb, M., 2005. Developing a PlantNetwork response to Target 8 of the GSPC. BGjournal 2(2): 8.
Wyse Jackson, P.S. and Sutherland, L.A., 2000. International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation. Botanic Gardens Conservation International, London, U.K. Reference throughout this issue of BGjournal.