Monday, 03 October 2005
Groundbreaking environment summit will scale 3,000m
Leading figures in the drive to protect Earth’s vulnerable natural habitats head for
China this week in a groundbreaking initiative to conserve global biodiversity. Led by
the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE), the UK-China: Partners in Science
Plant Conservation Programme will see 13 top-ranking scientists visiting four cities to
meet their counterparts from China’s expanding community of Botanic Gardens,
before breaking with convention and climbing 3,200m up a mountain to develop
proposals on the way forward for conservation and sustainability.
The delegation of Directors from the Royal Botanic Garden Kew (RBGK), the Natural
History Museum (NHM) and RBGE, along with the heads of nine major Chinese
botanical institutions, will hold two days’ of discussions in Beijing, Wuhan and
Kunming before travelling to the Southwest and RBGE’s flagship Jade Dragon Field
Station on the Yulong Xue Shan, near Lijiang. For the first time a remote
mountainside location will be the centre of top-level planning on issues such as the
reintroduction of plants to their natural habitats and the development of sustainable
production systems for medicinal and other useful species.
“With over 100 years’ experience of working in China, RBGE may be considered an
obvious contributor to the UK-China Year of Partnership in Science”, explained
Delegation Coordinator Professor Stephen Blackmore. “What makes this initiative
significant is that we do so in partnership with research counterparts from Kew, the
Natural History Museum and botanical institutions in China. Through our debates on
the Yulong Xue Shan we can demonstrate the fundamental importance of plants in
underpinning biodiversity, in general, and human life, in particular. It is a message
which has never been more acute and it will require us to build on existing
collaborations.”
Professor Blackmore’s views were echoed by Professor Sir Peter Crane, RBGK, who
commented: "I am delighted by this opportunity to partner our colleagues in China on
the issues that concern all of us: the long term preservation and sustainable use of
plant diversity. This will be a landmark event for plant conservation which combines
the best of modern approaches from the three major institutions in the UK and their
counterparts in China".
The significance of the venture has also been underscored by Professor Johannes
Vogel, NHM, who added: “This exciting opportunity will bring together the leading
botanists from China and the UK. Both countries share a long tradition in exploring
and conserving plant biodiversity. Now, we will work together with new cohesion to
achieve the goals of the Global Plant Conservation Strategy”.
ENDS
EDITOR’S NOTES
Participants arrive in Beijing on Sunday October 9 for a programme which will
include:
The Partners in Science Plant Conservation Programme Science is supported by
the Royal Society (RS), the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) with visits to Beijing, Wuhan and Kunming. As
part of this event Tim Summers, British Consul General in Chongqing, will host an
evening reception at the Green Lake Hotel, Kunming to celebrate the Year of
Partnership in Science.
The British Garden at the Kunming Horticultural Exposition re-launch is
supported by the British Consul General in Chongqing. Created by an RBGE team,
led by Deputy Director of Horticulture David Paterson, working in close cooperation
with Kunming Institute of Botany, it was supported by the then British Ambassador
Sir Anthony Galsworthy and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as part of the
1988 “Britain in China” campaign. Winner of one of the four Grand Prizes presented
at the Horticultural Exposition, it has continued to be an important visitor attraction in
Kunming.
Last year the managers of Expo invited RBGE to redevelop and re-launch the British
Garden. Work on the garden has been carried our during 2005 and includes update
interpretation panels relating to joint initiatives under the Twinning Agreement
between KIB and RBGE,
The first International Jade Dragon Seminar on Plant Conservation and
Sustainable Development, on the Yulong Xue Shan, near Lijiang, runs from
October 19 to October 24. It is supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE),
the Scottish Executive (SE), the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) and the Royal
Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). The Organising Committee comprises: Stephen
Blackmore (RBGE), Li De-Zhu (KIB), David Paterson (RBGE) and Zhang Chang Qin
(KIB). The Seminar will be chaired by Sir Anthony Galsworthy, former Ambassador
to China.
The seminar will focus on plant conservation and habitat restoration, with special
attention to alpine plants of Southwest China. The topics to be covered include:

the stabilisation and restoration of threatened plant species and habitats,

the repatriation of living plant collections from ex-situ collections held outside
the country of origin,

the reintroduction of ex situ plant collections into natural and semi-natural
habitats,

the role of local people and indigenous traditional knowledge and practices in
plant conservation and sustainable use,

the development of sustainable production systems for medicinal and other
useful plants threatened by harvesting from wild populations,

the role of palaeo-ecological studies and archival information from herbarium
collections and photographic and written archives in guiding habitat
restoration,

the role of botanic gardens in communicating the need for and importance of
plant conservation to local people and the opportunities for engaging local
people directly in programmes of plant conservation and sustainable use.
Lijiang Field Station & Botanic Garden was declared the UK’s first joint scientific
laboratory in China, by First Minister Jack McConnell, in October 2004.
To put the importance of the mountain in context: Scotland plays host to 800
flowering plant species, the Yulong supports some 3,000 species. As a whole, China
has around 30,000 plants species – one-eighth of the world’s total. Today, there are
tremendous challenges in avoiding habitat destruction, describing new species and
raising public awareness of issues which are of fundamental importance to the way
we live. New plants are still being discovered and others may be wiped out before
they are identified.
The Lijiang project is typical of the work being conducted by RBGE specialists in
more than 40 countries around the globe. Outside China, RBGE holds the largest
living collection of Sino-Himalayan plants in the world.
For further information, interviews or images: Shauna Hay on 0131 248 2900 or
Charlotte Zammit 0131 248 1037.