EuroGard IV, the 4th European Botanic Gardens Congress was held in Prague – Pruhonice, Czech Republic, from 18-22 September, 2006, hosted by Prague Botanic Garden and the Czech Botanic Garden Union, in cooperation with the Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, the BGCI/IABG European Botanic Gardens Consortium, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and the International Association of Botanic Gardens (IABG). The conference was attended by more than 100 delegates from botanic gardens throughout Europe.

The theme of the Congress was ‘Botanic Gardens and the 2010 Challenge’ which considered the present, future and potential roles and priorities of botanic gardens in Europe particularly in such areas as biodiversity conservation, science, education, culture and heritage conservation, public awareness, networking, information management and dissemination, efficient record keeping, seed banking, involvement in international conventions, the efficient and ethical exchange of germplasm and in other areas.

Key Speakers

• Suzanne Sharrock – BGCI, European botanic gardens and their contribution to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
• Sara Oldfield – BGCI, Biodiversity - policies and strategies of the European Union.
• Peter W. Jackson – Global Partnership for Plant Conservation and its activities.
• Michael Kiehn – Botanic gardens and conservation, a look beyond 2010.
• Esteban Hernández Bermejo - Botanic gardens and historic and cultural aspects.
• Bert van den Wollenberg – IPEN (International Plant Exchange Network).
• Jerzy Puchalski - The role of seed banks in conservation of European threatened plants - ENSCONET and regional projects.
• Matthew Jebb – Developing a National Plant Strategy in Ireland