Transcript A WORLD OF RESOURCES AND HERITAGE FOR HUMANKIND

A world of resources and heritage for humankind
Botanic gardens and society – a
changing relationship
Vernon Heywood
Centre for Plant Diversity and Systematics
School of Plant Sciences
The University of Reading,
Reading RG6 6AS, UK
‘A mark of a good botanic
garden is its ability to adapt to
changing circumstances but at
the same time provide a high
quality amenity and a good
science programme’
G.T.Prance
Botanic gardens
‘They inform and educate; they are
showcases for the living world, places
where science and people meet.’
Declaration of Gran Canaria, 1985
A world of resources and heritage for humankind
One of the essential missions of
botanic gardens is to allow people to
connect with plants
‘…to explore and explain the world
of plants’ Mission statement, Royal Botanic
Gatden, Edinburgh
The multiple roles of botanic
gardens
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centres for plant introduction
centres for ex situ conservation and in situ support
sources of urban and peri-urban biodiversity
official centres for the implementation of
conservation legislation and instruments
holders of national collections
as a historical archive
education and training
research in ethnobotany and medicinal and aromatic
plants
academic resource centres
centres of re-creation
centres for sustainable development
Confusion of purpose
Throughout their history botanic gardens
have suffered from a confusion of purpose
in the mind of the public – a confusion that
persists to the present day
Crise d’identité
Of equal concern is the confusion of
purpose within the botanic garden
community
Disharmony of function
Disharmony of function is
often a concern with so
many diverse objectives and
uses of the garden
Watson, Heywood & Crowley (1993)
Useful or ornamental?
• 16th and 17th centuries – from the cultivation,
provision and study of medicinal plants to the
cultivation of ornamental exotics
• 18th century – ‘by 1750 the ‘physic garden’ was
an emblem of civilization: means of, and
evidence for, rational knowledge of nature…’
• end of 18th century, a means of improving
agriculture and an instrument of colonization –
gardens as resource centres
The essence of a
botanic garden is its
living plant collections
Collections
Documented collections is one of the
features that distinguish botanic gardens
from parks, recreation grounds and
wilderness reserves
Conservation – a new purpose
The conservation role of botanic gardens
was foreseen in the early 20th century but
not formally developed until the 1970s
Nor surprisingly, today with increasing
concern at the destruction, fragmentation
and degradation of habitats, many botanic
gardens have focused much of their effort
on conserving plant diversity
Biodiversity loss and conservation
• Science and technology alone will not be able to
solve the problems of biodiversity loss and
environmental destruction unless it is willed by
humanity
• The major challenge then is to persuade the
general public, the voter, the taxpayer, indeed all
sectors of society of the need for action and to
provide the budget to pay for it
• And botanic gardens can play a key part in this
process.
Linkages and networks
• The origins of networking
• The Garden Catalogue, the Index
Seminum and the exchange of germplasm
• The first botanic garden associations
• The first conservation networks
• Networking and linkages for today and
tomorrow
A long tradition of networking
Since their origin in the 16th century,
botanic gardens have formed part of the
network of scholarship, science and
learning
The early networks
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Botanic gardens became linked through a
common interest in the exploration of plant
diversity
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The colonial networks
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The first global network formed by botanic
gardens came through the Index Seminum
Colonial networks
• Networks for exploration
• Networks for trade
• Networks for economic exploitation
• Development of tropical agricultlure
Botanic gardens and the
exchange of germplasm
Although some
sharing of material did
occur, perhaps the
origins of large scale
exchange of plants
began with the
agreement between
the Chelsea Physic
Garden and Leiden
University in 1683
Hortus Botanicus Leiden
The seeds of exchange
The Index Seminum
– the first issued by the University Botanic
Garden in Oxford in the 18th century
From the Index Seminum to the
Gene Bank
• The development of the seed list
• Focus on novelty and numbers of species
• Rivalry – which garden has the largest number
of species in cultivation?
• The development of uniformity out of diversity –
the botanic garden flora
• The recent focus on material of wild origin
• The recent focus on native species
Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Wakehurst Place, UK
The first international meetings
• 1er Congrès International pour la
Protection de la Nature, Paris (1923)
• 2ème Congrès International pour la
Protection de la Nature, Paris (1931)
IABG
IABG originated as the sub-commission of
Botanic Gardens of the International Union
of Biological Sciences (IUBS), which held
a colloquium on ‘The scientific
organization of Botanic Gardens’ in Paris
4–6 June 1953, dealing with:
Topics of the 1953 Paris meeting
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the definition of Botanic Gardens
accurate identification of cultivated plants
protection of nature and of living collections
practical recommendations for Seed Lists
experimental gardens to include the
preservation of genetical experimental material
• international relations between Botanic Gardens
• Regular meetings of botanic garden
representatives
Recommendations from the Paris
Meeting
• That a section be established within the
International Union for the Protection of Nature
(later IUCN) to work out the role of Botanic
Gardens in the protection of plants and plant
communities
• That an Index of Botanic Gardens be prepared
by the International Union of Taxonomy (later
IAPT) with the aid of IUBS
The aims of IABG
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To promote international cooperation between botanic gardens,
arboreta and similar institutes maintaining scientific collections of
living plants.
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to promote the study of taxonomy of plants to benefit the world
community.
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to promote documentation and exchange of information, living plants
and specimens between botanic gardens and similar institutes.
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to promote the conservation of plants through cultivation and other
means within botanic gardens and similar institutes.
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to promote the introduction to cultivation of appropriate plants of
benefit to the community.
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to promote habitat conservation by cooperation between IABG and
other relevant bodies.
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to promote horticulture as an art and science.
The first conservation networks
• In 1975, the IABG at its Plenary Session held in
Moscow ‘recognized that numerous botanic
gardens of the world, united under the auspices
of IABG represent a powerful force, which is
capable of rendering effective assistance in the
conservation of plant life in all continents’
• Also in 1975, a major international conference
on ‘The functions of living collections in
conservation and conservation-orientated
research and public education’ held at RBG Kew
In 1978, a second Kew conference on
‘Survival or Extinction: the practical
role of botanic gardens in the
conservation of rare and threatened
plants’ as held, at which it was
proposed that the Threatened Plants
Committee of IUCN should set up a
‘Botanic Gardens Coordinating
Body’.
IUCN/TPC Botanic Gardens
Coordinating Body (1980–1986)
by 1986, 154 botanic gardens (plus the
116 in the USSR through Moscow Main
BG) had contributed data on the
threatened plants they held in cultivation
and the database run by the Threatened
Plants Unit at Kew contained of 22 232
records
In 1984, a questionnaire was circulated to all known botanic
gardens requesting information on their structure, function,
facilities, collections, research, conservation activities, training,
and teaching and entered into a database which was then used
to produce the Botanic Gardens Conservation Strategy (1989)_
and the Fifth edition of the International Directory of Botanic
Gardens (1990).
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• In 1985, an international conference on ‘Botanic Gardens and
the World Conservation Strategy’ was held in Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria. This endorsed the draft Botanic Gardens Conservation
Strategy and issued the Declaration of Gran Canaria, calling on
botanic gardens to work together to implement it so as to defend
plantlife for the benefit of all people, now and in the future.
• In 1986, IUCN agreed to create a more substantial programme
and this became the IUCN Botanic Gardens Conservation
Secretariat (later BGCI) based at the Conservation Monitoring
Centre’s Offices at RBG Kew which started work in January 1987.
Current and future linkages
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Global networks and linkages
Regional networks
National Botanic Garden associations
National level linkages
Global networks and linkages today
• Global linkages covering all botanic
gardens – the role of IABG
• International conservation coordination –
the role of BGCI
• Linkages with UN and other international
agencies and NGOs (e.g. UNESCO,
UNEP, FAO, IPGRI, IUCN, WWF, CIFOR,
IUFRO, WRI, IUBS, ISHS, CI)
Regional networks and linkages
• IABG regional divisions: Europe, IberoMacaronesia, Latin America, AustralasiaOceania, E. Asia + link with AABGA
• BGCI regional offices
• Regional networks
National associations of botanic gardens
It is highly desirable that each country
should have some form of national
association or network of botanic gardens
by means of which they can share
experiences and facilities, offer a common
platform and speak with a single voice on
national issues that affect them all
National level linkages
with organizations and agencies in
• biodiversity (incl. conservation networks)
• conservation
• horticulture
• agriculture
• universities, colleges, schools
• genebanks
• civil society
• NGOs
We love to network! The present
obsession with information is rooted in
human nature.
R.J. Cox (2000)
Networking for botanic gardens in
the electronic age
• Full advantage must be taken of electronic
communication and sharing of information,
experience and problems
• Every botanic garden should maintain a
website as a means of communication
with the wider public as well as with the
botanic garden and conservation
communities
The future: strength in diversity
The botanic garden community will continue
to benefit from diversity –
• diversity in size and capacity
• diversity in mission
• diversity in association with other gardens
It will need to seek and develop new
linkages with other scientific, technical and
cultural organizations.