[PCA] NEWS: Coming up Short: Only 39% of endangered plant species are protected in collections in North America (fwd)

[Olivia Kwong]

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Coming up Short: Only 39 percent of North American endangered plant species
are protected in collections

The first comprehensive baseline knowledge on North America's plant
conservation efforts just published

Washington, D.C. -- Only 39 percent of the nearly 10,000 North American
plant species threatened with extinction are protected by being maintained
in collections, according to the first comprehensive listing of the
threatened plant species in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Seed
banks or living collections maintained by public gardens and conservation
organizations across North America provide an insurance policy against
extinction for many threatened species.

The North American Collections Assessment -- conducted collaboratively by
Botanic Gardens Conservation International U.S., the U.S. Botanic Garden,
and Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum -- found that 3,681 of 9,494 of
North America's most threatened plant species are maintained in 230
collections. Much more collaborative work is needed to conserve North
America's botanical wealth and to provide true protection against
extinction, says the report, Conserving North America's Threatened Plants,
released this week

Andrea Kramer, Botanic Gardens Conservation International U.S. executive
director, said, "These assessment results are hopeful, but also a call to
action. For many public gardens, this report marks the first time their
potential to assist in the conservation effort has been recognized. We hope
this is a watershed moment."

"As the U.S. Botanic Garden, we felt a critical need for a common baseline
of understanding among the entire conservation community," said Ray Mims,
one of the authors. "To move forward together to protect North America's
native plants, we have to understand where we are today. Now that we know
both what is threatened and what needs to be protected, there is a solid
foundation on which to build future conservation work."

"One of the lessons we learned from this assessment is how important it is
to curate for conservation," said Michael Dosmann, curator of living
collections at the Arnold Arboretum. "Curators and horticulturists have 
not always considered conservation value as they go about their routines. 
Yet by participating in this assessment, many for the very first time saw 
the direct value of their plants in bolstering efforts to conserve our
threatened flora. We hope this becomes a new paradigm in collections
management."

Assessment results indicate that North America did not reach the Global
Strategy for Plant Conservation's (GSPC) Target 8 goal set in 2002 of
protecting 60 percent of threatened plant species in collections by 2010.
While botanical organizations across Canada, Mexico and the United States
are making progress to achieve these targets, the report found that 3,500
or more additional threatened plant species will need to be added to
current collections to meet the new GSPC goal of conserving 75 percent of
known threatened species in North America by 2020. This will require nearly
doubling the current capacity.

The assessment calls for the strengthening of conservation networks and
collaboration in conservation planning and data sharing. Institutions are
urged to contribute plant lists to BGCI's PlantSearch database and update
them regularly. It is crucial to increase cooperation and coordination
among a broad and diverse network of gardens and conservation organizations
with different expertise and resources. To win this race against
extinction, conservation organizations will need to prioritize the
development of genetically diverse and secure collections to ensure
meaningful protection of threatened plants.

Additional information and the full report can be found at
www.bgci.org/usa/MakeYourCollectionsCount.

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