Plant Conservation Challenges
The Middle Eastern region is experiencing rapid population growth. The following are some of the major driving causes of the current plant diversity crisis:
Plant diversity can help us navigate our way through these very problems, and build a secure future for all life. To protect and cultivate plant life in this and other regions is of critical importance to our well-being and survival.
To halt and secure the loss of plant diversity in the region, integrated conservation approaches need to be promoted and strengthened, with immediate effect.
BGCI is driving change for the better, aiming to secure plant diversity in the region by strengthening capacity and activity in botanic gardens both within the region and globally.
Our goals are:
Safety Nets for Medicinal Plants
The Safety Nets project is about the protection of medicinal plants around the world. Huge pressure on medicinal plant resources, largely from habitat destruction and over-harvesting, is straining nature's ability to cope and we are putting human health at risk as a result.
The Role of Botanic Gardens in Plant Conservation
Botanic gardens play a key role in the conservation of the world's plant diversity and the education of people in environmental issues. BGCI facilitates this work through delivering publications, workshops, congresses, support and guidance. Together we are making plants, and thus life, more secure.
Major Threats to Plant Diversity
It is estimated that there are 270,000 plant species in the world, and one in eight are threatened with extinction. This page describes the main threats, and provides links to more information.
Challenges in Botanical Research and Climate Change
The 2nd World Botanic Gardens Scientific Congresswill be held in Delft, the Netherlands, on 29 June - 4 July 2008. The main themes are Conservation and Climate Change, Bionics, New Systematics and Future Issues. Registration for those wishing to contribute a paper is 15 December
Research on sabkha ecology began only a few decades ago when sabkhat were seen as wasteland. They are now recognised as ecosystems with research, development, and conservation value. This multidisciplinary volume covers everything from botany to zoology in this fragile ecotype.