Stephen Hopper
Greater biodiversity means better health. From the air we breathe to the medicines we need, all life depends on plants, but too often we exploit our natural riches without thinking of the consequences. We are beginning to understand the economic importance of biodiversity. Not just directly, for example through trade, but also in maintaining the ecosystem services that our economies and livelihoods depend on. Global efforts to address biodiversity loss, bringing together both scientific and economic perspectives, are beginning to make an impact.
Kew, working with the National History Museum and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, has shown that one fifth of the world’s plants are threatened with extinction. This shocking statistic was announced in 2010 as governments were due to meet in Nagoya, Japan, to discuss the conservation and management of the world’s biodiversity. Our report confirmed what we already suspected, that plants are under threat and the main cause is human-induced habitat loss.
For the first time, we have a clear global picture of extinction risk to the world’s known plants. We are now in a better position to develop targeted conservation programmes addressing the most pressing issues. But we still don’t know what we’re losing; hundreds of new plant species are named by Kew scientists every year. The work of our Herbarium is vitally important, as we need to know what biodiversity exists in order to protect it, and by naming plants, we can open doors to sharing knowledge about them.
Biodiversity is intrinsically interlinked with other important systems on our planet, including climate change and population. Kew actively engages in the establishment of global agreements for protecting biodiversity.
Nagoya demonstrated that there is an international consensus to increase our efforts in conserving biodiversity worldwide and to share the benefits of this natural heritage equitably. It is absolutely critical that governments and organizations work collaboratively to do this.
In a time of increasing biodiversity loss, we need to scale up our efforts to protect it. Kew will be working towards this in a number of ways, including through the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, which celebrated 2010 by achieving its initial target of saving 10% of the world’s wild plant species. This is truly a remarkable milestone, which is reaffirmed every time I explain to people the scale of what has been achieved by so many people working together.
By 2020, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place and partner seed banks around the world aim to secure the safe storage of seed from 25% of the world’s plants, targeting those plants and regions most at risk from climate change and the ever-increasing impact of human activities. The seed bank is not a doomsday vault where seeds are stored under lock and key – our mission is to use these seeds to support conservation and improve people’s lives. Most of the collections are available for research and over a third have a known use to people.
Through its Breathing Planet programme, Kew works with partners in the UK and around the world to protect plant diversity. Caring for plants, using them well, and repairing damaged habitats, helps provide a more secure future for humankind and native wildlife.
Seeds collected by Kew and its global partners can improve the welfare of local communities by helping them grow wild plants used in their everyday lives for food and medicine, fodder and fencing.
On the coast of Peru, ancient huarango forests have been cleared for fuel and to make room for agriculture. When the trees go, the land quickly becomes desert. Kew botanists are working to help local partners protect the last remaining trees and replant native vegetation to prevent further desertification.
Professor Stephen Hopper is Director of the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew.
Read more:
www.kew.org/breathing-planet
www.kew.org/adoptaseed
www.kew.org/plants-at-risk
