BGCI’s Rrole in co-ordinating a botanic garden-centred global system for the conservation of all tree diversity

Abstract

It is estimated that there are at least 60,000 tree species globally and that more than 20 percent of them are threatened with extinction. This threatened tree diversity will have a critical impact for solving some of this century’s major challenges in the areas of energy, water scarcity, human health, food security, climate change and habitat degradation. Botanic gardens and arboreta offer the opportunity to conserve and manage a wide range of plant diversity ex situ, and in situ in the broader landscape. The rationale that botanic gardens have a major role to play in preventing plant species extinctions is based on the following two assumptions: There is no technical reason why any plant species should become extinct. Given the array of ex situ and in situ conservation techniques employed by the botanic garden community and other partners, we can avoid species extinctions. The professional community associated with botanic gardens possesses a unique set of skills that encompass finding, identifying, collecting, conserving and growing plant diversity across the entire taxonomic spectrum.

Parent Publication

• Gene conservation of tree species—banking on the future. Proceedings of a workshop.

Citation

Smith, Paul. 2017. BGCI’s Rrole in co-ordinating a botanic garden-centred global system for the conservation of all tree diversity. In: Sniezko, Richard A.; Man, Gary; Hipkins, Valerie; Woeste, Keith; Gwaze, David; Kliejunas, John T.; McTeague, Brianna A., tech. cords. 2017. Gene conservation of tree species—banking on the future. Proceedings of a workshop. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-963. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. p. 4.