The world is experiencing a sixth global mass extinction event, and a new paper advocates that botanical gardens are uniquely positioned to preserve the world's plant diversity.
In a paper published in Plants, People, Planet, The Morton Arboretum scientists Murphy Westwood, Ph.D., and Nicole Cavender, Ph.D., in collaboration with Abby Meyer, and Paul Smith, Ph.D., from Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), detail how botanical gardens have the skills and knowledge, facilities, plant collections, and access to the public required to advance plant conservation, but lack the funding and public recognition necessary to achieve significant impact on global conservation.
"Although gardens are the ideal organizations to take on the significant challenges that come with preserving the world's plant diversity, their conservation efforts remain chronically underfunded," explained Westwood, Director of Global Tree Conservation at The Morton Arboretum. "There is a need for not only more funding for garden-led plant conservation initiatives, but also more reliable, long-term, steady funding sources that reflect the time scales necessary to secure threatened plant species, especially long-lived plants like trees," she added.
According to the authors, more than 20% of plant species are threatened with extinction, and Earth is losing species before they can even be described. In response to this crisis, the paper indicates that botanical gardens are increasingly placing the conservation of plant diversity at the center of their missions, programming, and collections.
