National and international conservation efforts and their relevance to plant conservation in the Southwest

Abstract

Plant conservation in the United States benefits directly and indirectly from national and international conservation initiatives. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which began in December 1993, serves as a guiding force for conservation in the United States even though the U.S. is not a party to the convention. An international meeting in 1998 of leaders concerned with biological collections and the field of systematics addressed what was called the Taxonomic Impediment, consisting of gaps of knowledge in our taxonomic system, a shortage of trained taxonomists, and the negative impact these have had on our ability to manage and use our biological diversity. This meeting resulted in the Darwin Declaration (Anonymous 1998), which calls for initiatives to inventory and provide taxonomic information on the world's organisms and to support the scientific collections and expertise needed to do the work. The Gran Canaria Declaration (Anonymous 2000), stemming from an international meeting in April, 2000, of leaders in botanical conservation, issued a call for global plant conservation.

Parent Publication

• Southwestern rare and endangered plants: Proceedings of the Third Conference

Citation

Morin, Nancy R. 2001. National and international conservation efforts and their relevance to plant conservation in the Southwest. In: Maschinski, Joyce; Holter, Louella, tech. eds. Southwestern rare and endangered plants: Proceedings of the Third Conference; 2000 September 25-28; Flagstaff, AZ. Proceedings RMRS-P-23. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 1-8.