Safeguarding China′s Botanical HeritageFoundation item: BGCI′S Program in China——BGCI′s integrated conservation programme in China

2011·0.21 MB·

by  Xiang-Ying Wen

植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 ,33 ( ):
摇 2011 1 80~84
Plant Diversity and Resources :
摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 DOI 10.3724/SP.J.1143.2011.11014
Safeguarding China忆s Botanical Heritage
*
BGCI忆s integrated conservation programme in China
———
1** 1 2
Xiang鄄Ying WEN , Joachim GRATZFELD , Sheng鄄Ji PEI
ChinaProgramOffice BotanicGardensConservationInternational
(1 , ,Guangzhou510520,China;
KunmingInstituteofBotany ChineseAcademyofSciences
2 , ,Kunming650204,China)
Abstract
: China忆srichfloraldiversityincludesmorethan33000 vascularplantspecies,representingapproximately
10 percentofallknownplantspecies. OverhalfofthesespeciesareendemictoChina. However,China忆srapideco鄄
nomic development in the last30 years and continuous population growth have seriously damaged plant resources in
the wild and the ecological environment, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of endangered species.
There are nearly4000 to5000 higher plants thatarenowthreatenedoronthevergeofextinction. Tohelphaltthe
loss of Chinese plant diversity, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has developed a China pro鄄
gramme and openeditsfirstofficebasedinGuangzhouin2008. ThisofficeworksalongwithChinesepartnersaiming
tosecureChineseplantdiversitythroughintegratedconservationapproacheswithreintroduction/populationreinforce鄄
ment,engagement of local communities in conservation activities,capacity building in horticulture and environmen鄄
tal education and public outreach.
Key words
: Integratedconservation;Capacitybuilding;Reintroduction;Environmentaleducation;Publicoutreach
CLC number DocumentCode ArticleID
:Q16摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 :A摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 :2095-0845(2011)01-080-05
Introduction
spans almost a decade of plant conservation action.
China忆s rich floral diversity includes more than Initially, BGCI忆s work mainly concentrated on ca鄄
33000 vascular plant species, representing approxi鄄 pacity building for professionals from botanic gardens
mately 10 percent of all known plant species in the and public education. A series of training courses in
world. Over half of these species are endemic to botanical gardens management and plant conserva鄄
China. However, China忆s rapid economic develop鄄 tion was held in various Chinese botanical gardens
ment in the last 30 years and continuous population and, through a collaboration with Kadoorie Farm and
growth have seriously damaged plant resources in the Botanic Garden (KFBG-Hong Kong), a scholarship
wild and the ecological environment, resulting in a programme was established in 2003.
dramatic increase in the number of threatened spe鄄 Building from education and capacity building,
cies. It is estimated that nearly4000 to5000 higher BGCI忆s China programme has expanded to also encom鄄
plants are now threatened or on the verge of extinc鄄 pass environmental policy and practical conservation
tion (Huang, 2010). action. BGCI opened its first office in China in2008 to
The tremendous diversity of the native flora in help halt the loss of Chinese plant diversity. A broad
China and a strong history and interest in botanic overview of how we operate is provided by this paper.
garden development within the country form the main
A diverse conservation programme
grounds for one of BGCI忆s largest regional pro鄄
grammes of work. BGCI忆s engagement in China At a policy level, BGCI supported the develop鄄
* Foundationitem:BGCI忆SPrograminChina
** Authorforcorrespondence;E鄄mail:[email protected]
Receiveddate:2011-01-20,Accepteddate:2011-01-25
期 et al
1 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 Xiang鄄Ying WEN .: Safeguarding China忆s Botanical Heritage摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇 摇81
China忆s Strategy for
ment and launch in 2008 of, species and ecosystem functions that provide a vital
Plant Conservation
(CSPC). This provides the over鄄 basis for livelihoods of rural communities.
Enabling people and botanic gardens
arching national guidance framework for the botanic : Ca鄄
garden community and conservation organizations to pacity building in horticulture,botanical gardens man鄄
devise their plant conservation programmes. Increa鄄 agement, environmental education and public outreach
singly, the Strategy enjoys support by a wide range to enhance proficiency and capacity of stakeholders to
of organizations and institutions in China including implement practical conservation initiatives.
Influencing decision鄄making and policy
the corporate sector, thereby demonstrating a grow鄄 : Link鄄
ing concern for safeguarding China忆s botanical herit鄄 ing practice and policy, as well as replicating and
age for future generations. From then on, BGCI忆s scaling up successful conservation interventions.
activities in China have concentrated on Targets 7,
Securing plant diversity
8, 14, 15 and 16 of the CSPC. Operating through
this small office hosted by South China Botanical BGCI忆s practical efforts on conserving threat鄄
Garden, CAS, BGCI忆s China Programme works a鄄 ened tree species mainly focus on Magnolias and Ma鄄
long with numerous Chinese botanic garden members ples, groups of woody plants that have a high num鄄
and conservation partners (see Table 1) towards the ber of threatened and endemic trees in China
et al
objectives of BGCI忆s Five Year Plan 2007-2012: (Cicuzza .,2007; Gibbs and Chen,2009). Cer鄄
Securing plant diversity
摇 摇 : Securing this rich tain other threatened tree species have also been se鄄
natural heritage through various collaborative actions lected for conservation attention including represent鄄
Euryodendron Bretschneidera Davidia
in areas linking practical field projects to maintain atives of , and .
Table1摇 BGCI忆scurrentpartnersandprojectsinChina,includingpriorityspecies
exsitu insitu
(chosenforcombined and projects)
Threatened species of trees
BGCIinstitutionalpartners Partnerorganizationsinvolvedinfieldconservationactivities
chosenforconservationaction
InstituteofBotany,CAS, CangshanMountainProtection&AdministrationBureau,Dali, Aceryangbiense A.leipoense
,
Beijing BaiAutonomousPrefecture (BAP)
Bretschneiderasinensis
1. Nan鄄kun鄄shanNautreReserve (NR),Longmen,Guangdong 1. ,
Magnolialongipedunculata
2. DongguanInstituteofForestry,Dongguan
SouthChinaBotanicalGarden, . Bretschneiderasinensis
3. EhuangzhangNatureReserve,YangchunForestryBureau, 2
CAS,Guangzhou,Guangdong . Eurodendronexcelsum
Guangdong 3
. Magnolialongipedunculata
4. ShimenNationalForestPark 4
Magnoliacoriacea
1. MalipoForestryStation 1 &2. ,
M.phanerophlebia
2. WenshanForestryBureau
KunmingBotanicalGarden, Aceryangiense
3. CangshanMountainProtection&AdministrationBureau, 3.
CAS,Kunming,Yunnan
Dali,BaiAutonomousPrefecture 4. Woodyfloraconservationof
4. YunlongForestryBureau,CaojianForestryStation,BAP Zhi鄄Ben鄄Shan
Ex situ
LushanBotanicalGarden, LushanNatureReserve conservation of threat鄄
CAS, Jiangxi JiujiangCityForestryInstitute enedChineseTaxus
HubeiUniversityforNationalities, 1. QizmeishanNationalNatureReserve,Enshi,Hubei Davidiainvolucrata
Enshi,Hubei 2. XingdoushanNationalNatureReserve,Enshi
Dipteroniadyeriana Magnolia
YunnanInstituteofEnvironmental ,
Da鄄wei鄄shanNationalNR,Pingbian,Yunnan odoratissima M.aromatica
Science,Kunming,Yunnan ,
HongKongZoologicalandBotanicalGardens Training in plant conservation
KadoorieFarmandBotanic
HongKongPark techniques and botanic garden
Garden,HongKong
KowloonPark management
植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 第 卷
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Recovery projects are designed in a novel way within communities as the ultimate natural resource custodi鄄
ex situ in situ
the Chinese context by linking and ans, and authorities from local to national levels (e.
conservation activities. The principal activities have g. protected area personnel, forestry department
included comprehensive field survey, propagation of staff) is considered essential to define locally appro鄄
ex situ
the targeted species in nurseries and subse鄄 priate conservation and management approaches.
quent re鄄introduction of young plants into the wild. BGCI supports its project experts from botanic gar鄄
Institutionally, the work has involved collaboration dens to facilitate and strengthen this dialogue, capi鄄
between botanical gardens, research institutes or talizing on both their botanical expertise and public
in
universities with organizations concerned with the outreach skills.
situ
management of plants, notably protected areas Building on the work with single species rein鄄
agencies and forestry departments. In all cases ef鄄 troductions that involve local communities, BGCI is
forts have been made to engage with local communi鄄 exploring new opportunities for interventions that en鄄
ties. Table 2 summarises the recent progress made deavor to meet both plant conservation and livelihood
in the conservation of the selected woody species. development objectives. A task shared by every con鄄
BGCI seeks to promote the active involvement temporary conservation organization, this entails the
of all relevant stakeholders in its conservation pro鄄 conception and testing of novel functional links be鄄
grammes. Local level stakeholder workshops are tween species conservation and ecosystem manage鄄
held to help decide on and sanction appropriate con鄄 ment that will both guarantee ecological services and
servation action. Fostering dialogue among local enhance human well鄄being.
ExSitu InSitu
Table2摇 SummaryofProgressMadein & Conservationbetween2008-2010
ExSitu
Propagationof
PlantSpecies LocationofProjectSite Reintroduction
Seedlings Planting
Bretschneiderasinensis
Nan鄄Kun鄄ShanNatureReserve 3600 3000 500
Taxus
spp. LushanBot. GardenArboretum 200 200 —
1. SouthChinaBot. Garden 80 80 —
Eurodendronexcelsum
2. YunnanUniversity 11000 500 —
3. EhuangZhangNR — 160
Dipteroniadyeriana
Da鄄Wei鄄ShanNR 5000 — 1296
Magnoliaodoratissima
, Da鄄Wei鄄ShanNR 2000 — 500
M.aromatica
Da鄄Wei鄄ShanNR 500 — 120
M.hebecarpa
SouthChinaBot. Garden — 200 —
1000 inNan鄄Kun鄄ShanNR,
M.longipedunculata
SouthChinaBot. Garden 2200 200 1000 inShimenNational
ForestPark
M.angustifolia
SouthChinaBot. Garden — 200 —
M.ingrate
SouthChinaBot. Garden — 200 —
Davidiainvolucrata 1500 inXindoushanNRand
HubeiUniversityforNationalities 12500 10000
800 inQizimeishanNR
30 spp. ofRedlistedplants
andornamentalplantsfrom KunmingBotanicalGarden 15000 — 500
Zhi鄄Ben鄄ShanMt.
M.coriacea
KunmingBot. Garden — 1500 174
M.phanerophlebia
KunmingBot. Garden 800 — 50
Aceryangbiense
KunmingBotanicalGarden 1700 1700
期 et al
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Enabling people and botanic gardens
gxi Provinces.
Advancement of conservation knowledge and Advances in environmental education and new
dissemination of related information is at the core of approaches to public outreach are also promoted and
BGCI忆s mission to engage its members and partners are so important at a time of rapid global change.
in securing plant diversity. To the extent practica鄄 BGCI works with its members and partners to en鄄
ble, BGCI works in China with botanic garden staff hance environmental awareness through a variety of
and other conservation practitioners to promote the public outreach activities. These include the incor鄄
latest plant conservation knowledge and techniques. poration of conservation messages into signs and
Through the BGCI鄄KFBG Travel Scholarship Program printed materials, facilitation of web鄄based informa鄄
for example,mid鄄level botanic garden staff have been tion platforms, or support for the organization of ex鄄
trained in concepts and techniques for native plant hibitions, lectures and special events at botanic gar鄄
conservation, ecological restoration, in vitro conser鄄 dens and other venues of public interest. Strong
vation, ethnobotany and botanic garden management. public environmental awareness is key to a continu鄄
KFBG helps to develop professional relationships be鄄 ally evolving conservation rationale, and to gaining
tween the staff of botanic gardens and exchanges of political support for its implementation.
information on practical techniques. So far, 50 staff
Influencing global policy
from around 34 Chinese botanical gardens or conser鄄
China忆s Strategy for Plant Conservation
vation organizations have been trained via this pro鄄 (CSPC)
Global Strategy for
gramme. More broadly BGCI connects Chinese ex鄄 is the national response to the
Plant Conservation
perts with botanic gardens worldwide through its (GSPC) developed under the
Convention on Biological Diversity
global network to facilitate continued capacity build鄄 (CBD). BGCI
ing in plant conservation鄄related disciplines. significantly contributed to the development of GSPC
BGCI has also been involved in training protec鄄 and its revision that was adopted at the CBD Confer鄄
ted area staff. Working with Fauna & Flora Interna鄄 ence of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan in October
tional (FFI), BGCI provided a six day training 2010. BGCI continues to assists in the promotion and
course in Huaping National Nature Reserve in Guan鄄 further advancement of thisglobally important strategy
gxi province in December 2010, mainly focusing on through various means. Case studies and examples of
threatened plant conservation and monitoring skills best practice from China can be of great value inter鄄
for protected area technicians. The course provided nationally. This is of particular importance as BGCI
training for30 individuals from21 nature reserves in is developing an online global toolkit for the imple鄄
Chongqing, Hubei, Yunnan, Guangdong and Guan鄄 mentation of the GSPC with its new 2020 targets.
Table3摇 DistributionofConservationPromotionalMaterialsduringthelocalstakeholderworkshops(2008-2010)
No. ofPublic
TargetPlants TypeofMaterials No. ofPrints
Distribution
Bretschneiderasinensis
ConservationPromotionalMaterials 800 630
ArboretumTransfomationLushanBot. Garden PublicEducation 640 420
Euryodendronexcelsum
ConservationEducation 1000 650
Dipteroniadyeriana&M.odoratissima M.aromatica
, ConservationDemonstrationMaterials 900 700
Magnolia
4 spp:
M.hebecarpa M.longipedunculata M.angustifolia M.ingrate ConservationMaterials 400 400
; ; ;
Davidiainvolucrata
ConservationMaterials 400 400
Zhi鄄Ben鄄ShanMt. WoodyFlora ConservationWoodyFlora 1500 500
BGCI鄄ChinaProgrammemeBrochure ProgrammemeBriefingMaterials 4000 2500
植 物 分 类 与 资 源 学 报 第 卷
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Looking to the future 鄄 BGCI忆s China Pro鄄
cently been subject to review. Based on this,BGCI忆s
gramme 2011-2013
actions and strategies for the future are designed to
explore new models of facilitating and implementing
Rapid global change presents a major challenge
adaptive changes in practice and policy that will
in devising future biodiversity management respon鄄
guide informed, cost鄄effective conservation action
ses. It calls into question established conservation
and human development. Membership of BGCI忆s
rationales and demands innovative thinking for sus鄄
global network is open to all botanic gardens, the
tainable solutions to environmental problems. Cou鄄
business community and individuals who value plants
pled with a still fast鄄growing population which legiti鄄
and the services they provide.
mately seeks to participate in the global economic
welfare, the pressure on biological resources in Chi鄄
References
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and with this our conservation conundrum. With
aceae [R]. Fauna&FloraInternational,UK
modest resources, BGCI continues to address this
GibbsD,ChenY,2009. TheRedListofMaples [R]. BotanicGar鄄
challenge by working with botanic gardens and other densConservationInternaitonal
Exsitu
conservation institutions in China and abroad that HuangH,2010. plantconservation:akeyroleofChinesebo鄄
share a common concern for biodiversity and human tanicgardensinimplementingChina忆sStrategyforPlantConser鄄
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well鄄being. BGCI忆s programme in China has re鄄