2010 TARGETS FOR BOTANIC GARDENS

Introduction

An important outcome of the 2nd World Botanic Gardens Congress in Barcelona, Spain in April, 2004 was the development of a series of 20 targets for botanic gardens to be achieved by 2010, to help measure the achievement of the objectives of the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation and as a contribution towards the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC).

The draft 2010 targets for botanic gardens were published in BGjournal 1(1) July 2004 and also on the website with a request for comments to be sent to BGCI.

The alternate text for targets 17 and 18 were subsequently harmonised and the finalised targets were introduced to the 2 nd meeting of the International Advisory Council (IAC) of BGCI held at the Institute of Botany, Vienna, Austria on 17 th July, 2005 in a paper on the p rogress in the implementation of and monitoring of the International Agenda for Botanic Gardens in Conservation . The report of that meeting has now been finalised and circulated; it can now be announced that t he targets have now been approved by the IAC and are published here as a protocol to the International Agenda .

The GSPC target to which each 2010 target most closely relates is provided below ( in italics ) for easy reference.

2010 TARGETS FOR BOTANIC GARDENS

•  Understanding and documenting plant diversity:

  (i) A widely accessible working list of known plant species, as a step towards a complete world flora;

1) The herbaria of botanic gardens and their living collections contribute to and support the development of a working list of known plant species, by developing local, national and regional checklists, floras and monographs as appropriate;

  (ii) A preliminary assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, at national, regional and international levels;

  2) Botanic gardens contribute to, support, undertake and review national, regional and international threatened plant assessments to ensure that a preliminary evaluation is available in every country;

(iii) Development of models with protocols for plant conservation and sustainable use, based on research and practical experience;

3) Botanic gardens develop and disseminate models, protocols and case studies for priority plants, their ecosystems and cultural landscapes, within their area of expertise and interest, as relevant to achieve