The Action Plan sets out for botanic gardens in the European Union more than 30 objectives on science and
horticulture; heritage and culture; conservation of biodiversity; education, training and awareness; networking
and co-operation; capacity building; and fimding to implement the Action Plan. Ways of achieving each objective
are suggested. Case studies give examples of current activities and innovative programmes being undertaken by
botanic gardens in the European Union. Information is also included on the numbers and diversity of botanic
gardens in the EU as well as on their network organisations.
This document has been drafted and widely considered and reviewed by staff from botanic gardens throughout
the European Union. It seeks to provide a firm foundation for joint and individual actions that can be undertaken
by botanic gardens in the region. It goes beyond providing just a flamework for botanic gardens’ involvement in
plant and environmental resources management, research and conservation, but provides specific suggestions for
programmes that can be implemented by botanic gardens in many fields.
It is designed to be accessible to anyone with an interest in plants and the environment. However, there are a
number of very specific audiences we have kept in mind when preparing this Plan. These audiences are:
These audiences are:
- governing bodies, administrators and staff of botanic gardens
- those working to create, develop or strengthen botanic gardens
- government departments and ministries, especially those responsible for the environment and education
- those involved in the development and implementation of national and regional conservation and environmental policies
- environmental education policy formers
- non-government organisations and other groups carrying out environmental and conservation work
- funding agencies or bodies
Its goals are to:
- provide an EU-wide regional framework and shared rationale and priorities for botanic gardens’ actions for plants and the environment
- strengthen the capacity of EU botanic gardens
- help gardens to develop programmes to educate the public about the importance of plants for the planet
- provide guidance for individual botanic gardens in the formulation and implementation of programmes and to suggest priority actions for such gardens for the study of plants, for conservation and to promote the sustainable use of plant diversity
- foster development of the EU botanic garden network, to promote even closer regional collaboration and raise greater resources for their individual and joint priority actions.
INTRODUCTION
By Peter Wyse Jackson
BOX 1
Botanic gardens in the
European Union
Area or Country
|
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Portugal*
Spain*
Sweden
United Kingdom#
EU total |
13
25
8
8
68
78
4
11
54
1
43
9
16
9
77
424 |
*Including botanic gardens in Macaronesia
(Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores)
#Including Gibraltar
|
There are more than 400 botanic gardens in the European Union (see Box 1),
their staffs comprising some 1,500 scientists, and 5,000 other employees (technicians, gardeners, education staff, guides, office staff and guards).
These botanic gardens receive more than 50 million visitors each year and are the major way in which the people of Europe can gain access to information on the diversity and importance of the world’s plants. Many botanic gardens in the European Union are also leading institutions of world significance in botanical research, plant conservation, education and horticulture.
- They grow more than 50,000 species of higher plant in their living collections.
- Their herbaria hold over 40 million specimens from all over the world.
- Amongst them are over 100 germplasm banks, conserving important collections not only of wild flora, but also of species of agricultural interest and containing tens of thousands of seed accessions - one of the most important genetic reserves in the world.
- Their museum and library collections are some of the most important and extensive in the world - an important part of the Europe’s heritage and culture and an essential resource for botanical studies.
Botanic gardens have played a significant role in many cultures and civilisations over the ages. Their contribution to cultural development,
economic progress and commercial expansion has been of very great importance. Today, their roles are many and various, as outlined in Box 2,
which lists some of the major activities currently undertaken by botanic gardens in the European Union.
They perform such diverse roles and functions that it is not easy to define what is a botanic garden. However,
a convenient definition to use is that they are:
‘institutions holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation,
display and education’(Botanic Gardens Conservation International 1999).
BOX 2
Some current roles and activities for botanic gardens in the European Union
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- Wild plant species research, conservation and management ex situ and in situ
- Plant reintroductions and habitat restoration research
- Arboriculture and dendrology
- Library services and information centres
- Environmental education programmes for children and adults
- Teacher training
- Tourism
- Public recreation
- Horticultural research
- Ornamental horticulture and floriculture
- Horticultural training
- Remedial training and therapy
- Introduction and assessment of new crop genetic resources
- Cultivar conservation and maintenance
- Seed and tissue banking
- Field genebanks
- Herbarium studies
- Laboratory research, including in vitro (tissue culture) plant CL... !ation
- Ethnobiological research
- City and town planning, resource allocation and land use
|
Within this definition, there may be included a great diversity of institutions ranging for large gardens with several hundred staff
and a diverse range of activities to small institutions with limited resources and activities. Nevertheless, as suggested by this
Action Plan, all can play a role in botanical resource management, in botany, horticulture, conservation or education.
Botanic gardens are managed by a wide range of organisations and administrations. Many are state administered or managed by regional
or local authorities and receive public funding. More than 30% of the world’s botanic gardens belong to universities and other research
institutes for higher education. A relatively small proportion are private. In recent years the trend has been for botanic gardens to
gain greater financial and administrative independence, often becoming Trust-administered and operating with funds gained increasingly
through independent fund-raising efforts.
The major types of botanic garden in the European Union are outlined in Box 3, although many have
multipurpose roles and so do not fit neatly into any well-defined category.
The plant groups best represented in living collections in botanic garden in the European Union include many
important groups, including carnivorous plants, orchids, palms, cacti and other succulents, ferns, tropical
ornamentals, cycads, bulbous plants, bromeliads and conifers. Many botanic gardens place particular emphasis
on growing and maintaining thematic collections of such groups as medicinal and aromatic plants, economic
plants, particularly fruit trees and their wild relatives, ornamentals, plants of ethnobotanical or historical interest,
alpines and temperate trees.
Stimulated by increasing awareness of the need for plant conservation, many botanic gardens have given
particular emphasis to replacing plant accessions whose origins are unknown with newer material of known wild
origin and giving higher priority to maintaining genetically diverse collections of priority rare or endangered
plant taxa. Furthermore, there is an increasing trend for botanic gardens to focus on and give priority to the
cultivation of the native flora of their own region, particularly those that are threatened. It is hoped that this
Action Plan will stimulate this work amongst many more gardens.
BOX 3
Types of botanic garden in the European Union
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-
‘Classic’ multipurpose gardens
These are often the largest with a broad range of activities in horticulture and horticultural training;
research, particularly in taxonomy with associated herbaria and laboratories; public education; and
amenity. They are generally State supported.
-
Ornamental gardens
These often very beautiful establishments with diverse plant collections, but currently with little or no
research, education or conservation role. Their plants are often not labelled. Some are privately owned.
Many municipal gardens fall into this category.
-
Historical gardens
These include many of the earliest botanic gardens established as physic gardens for the teaching of
medicine. Some were developed for religious reasons and many were laid out in elaborate geometric
patterns. Some of these are still active in medicinal plant conservation and research and are still today
primarily concerned with collection and cultivation of medicinal plants and spreading of information about
them to the public. Some have associated laboratory and research facilities.
-
Conservation gardens
Most of these are recently developed in response to local needs for plant conservation and some contain or
have associated areas of natural vegetation in addition to their cultivated collections. Included in this
category are native plant gardens, which only cultivate plants from their surrounding region or national
flora. Most play roles in public education.
-
University gardens
Universities have traditionally maintained botanic gardens. Most have a multipurpose function in teaching
and research. Many are open to the public.
-
Combined botanical and zoological gardens
Often the botanical element is secondary to the zoological collection, but the importance of botanical
collections in many zoos is currently being reassessed.
-
Agro-botanical and germplasm collection gardens
These gardens function as an ex situ collection of plants of economic value or potential for conservation,
research, plant breeding and agriculture, Several are experimental stations associated with agricultural or
forestry institutes. Many are not open to the public. Many contain associated laboratory, plant breeding and
seed testing facilities.
-
Alpine or mountain gardens
These gardens, most frequently in mountain regions of Europe, are specifically designed for the cultivation
of mountain and alpine flora. Some are satellite gardens of larger lowland botanic gardens.
-
Natural or wild gardens
These gardens contain an area of natural or semi-natural vegetation, which is protected and managed. Most
are established to play conservation and public education roles and include areas where native plants are
grown.
-
Horticultural gardens
These gardens, often owned and maintained by horticultural societies, exist primarily to foster the
development of horticulture through the training of professional gardeners, breeding, registration and
conservation of garden plant varieties and to act as gardens for the use, pleasure and service of members.
Most are also open to the general public. Several have broader aims in plant species conservation.
-
Thematic gardens
These specialise in growing a limited range of related or morphologically similar plants or plants grown to
illustrate a particular theme. These include orchid, rose, rhododendron, bamboo and succulent gardens or
gardens established on such themes as ethnobotany, medicine, bonsai, topiary, butterfly gardens,
carnivorous plants, aquatics.
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In the last 20-30 years there has been a renaissance in botanic gardens worldwide, largely as a result of the
developing concern for the loss of biodiversity and the need for many more institutions to become active in plant
resource conservation. There has also been a corresponding rise in botanic garden involvement in research and
conservation of the floras of the regions or countries in which they are situated. Their traditional and widely
accepted role in ex situ conservation has also been broadened considerably by many botanic gardens. Many
botanic gardens are now taking a more integrated approach to biodiversity conservation, linking their work on the
cultivation and conservation of plants in the garden and maintained in their seed banks with an enhanced role in
in situ plant conservation. Such integrated conservation activities take many forms, including work in areas of
conservation biology, including plant reintroductions, habitat and wild population management and restoration,
the control of invasive plants, genetic and molecular studies, environmental advocacy, taxonomic research and
exploration and environmental education.
An important feature of the botanic garden scene in Europe over the last decade has been the extent to which
networks of closely co-operating botanic gardens have been developed. Since its establishment in 1987, Botanic
Gardens Conservation International itself has developed to become a major networking organisation for botanic
gardens in Europe and worldwide and includes most of the major European botanic gardens as members.
Although all these networks have arisen from a great diversity of origins, there are now effective operational
links and close co-operation amongst them. The development of this Action Plan is a tangible outcome of this
close co-operation.
Need for an Action Plan for botanic gardens
We depend totally on plants for every aspect of our existence - food, clothing, housing, health and pleasure.
Plants (all plants, not just the few thousand we use directly) are the basis of all life on earth; and, to survive, we
need to treat plants as important partners in our lives. Nevertheless, throughout the world we are threatening this
rich part of our natural heritage. Natural habitats are coming under increasing pressure and the erosion of the
diversity of our native plants continues, despite growing awareness of the importance of biodiversity in Europe
and our urgent need to protect and manage it for the hture.
Botanic gardens in the European Union have become increasingly aware of their considerable responsibilities,
not only for plant resource management, conservation and research, but also to safeguard the heritage collections
of buildings, plants, landscapes and artefacts that are within their stewardship. In this new world climate of
awareness about the environment, it has therefore become urgent for EU botanic gardens to unite their efforts and
work together.
The aim of this Action Plan is therefore to:
- define the role that botanic gardens can play in measures that the world community has formulated to
safeguard plants and the environment, including how botanic gardens relate to international and national instruments, legislation and conventions that focus on plants and the environment
-
help to define botanic garden responsibilities and obligations in plant resource management and
conservation;
- define a shared mission and work programme
- agree targets that define how EU botanic gardens can contribute to biodiversity conservation and
environmental sustainability
- develop efficient systems to document plant diversity within and beyond the European Union
- ensure that EU botanic gardens are linked, co-ordinated, monitored and supported by network organisations
- promote greater co-operation between botanic gardens within Europe and elsewhere in the world
- ensure that the botanic garden community co-operates closely with non-garden institutions and
organisations, including governments, NGOs, other bodies and individuals who are working to achieve
similar aims
- strengthen efforts made by so many institutions to gain new resources for their work; to turn their plans into
actions.
How to use the Action Plan
This Action Plan will be most effectively implemented at the level of the individual botanic garden. It may be
valuable for individual gardens to undertake the preparation of an institutional response to the Plan, reviewing its
current policies, management, practices, procedures, resources and facilities. The following findamental
questions might be addressed as part of such a review.
- What is the mission of the garden? Is it clearly defined and understood? Does it outline the garden's
purpose, objectives, targets and hture activities and is the mission fully understood by all those associated
with the garden - governing bodies and other authorities, staff, funders and visitors?
- What are the garden's current and future projected roles in areas such as botanical research, conservation,
education and horticulture? How do these relate to the Action Plan objectives and do they address priorities
identified also by other groups, bodies and authorities?
- Can all staff be involved in the preparation of a response to the Action Plan so that their commitment to
working to implement it is assured?
Clearly, no botanic garden can be active in implementing all, or even much, of the Action Plan. Nevertheless, it
provides a shared agenda from which each individual institution can select its own priority activities for
implementation, those for which it is best suited. It may also be used to support efforts made by botanic gardens
to obtain new resources so that they can play increasingly effective and significant future roles.
The Action Plan is also designed to be used by networking organisations and other bodies associated with botanic
gardens; to help define their programmes complementing, supporting, guiding and monitoring the botanic
gardens with which they work.
So how do you begin to use this Plan?
We suggest that you first turn to the case studies that are provided at the end of each chapter (see list below), to
read about just some of the initiatives being undertaken in the region. They will give you a broad overview ofjust
how diverse the activities are which can be undertaken by botanic gardens. Next, systematically begin reading the
text from the beginning. Highlight anything that sounds as though it might be possible in your region or
institution. Share the ideas with your colleagues and then begin putting together proposals for programmes, using
some of the arguments from this Plan. If at all possible, make contact with one of the individuals or institutions
mentioned in this Plan and discuss your thoughts, Make an estimate of what the programme might cost to start
and what it will cost each year to sustain.
The next step may be a difficult one - getting support for implementing the programme you have identified. You
probably know the best way to do this for your particular situation, but again there is a lot to be gained by calling
others and asking how they did it. Alliances with existing organisations are a good idea and local NGO and
governmental support are highly desirable if your plans necessitate the pursuit of major finding.