Call for Action
Recognizing the critical situation facing the world’s flora, and their particular responsibility to alert the global community, botanists convened at the XVI International Botanical Congress in St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., in August, 1999, called for plant conservation to be recognized as an outstanding global priority in biodiversity conservation.

Responding to the Congress resolution, an ad hoc group drawn from major international and national organizations, institutions and other bodies involved in biodiversity conservation came together in Gran Canaria, Spain on 3-4 April, 2000 to consider the need for a global initiative for plant conservation. The group resolved that a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and associated program for its implementation should be developed urgently, within the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Resolutions of the XVI International Botanical Congress - 1999

The Gran Canaria Declaration (pdf)

Developing the Strategy

By decision V/10, the Conference of the Parties decided to consider, at its sixth meeting in April 2002, the establishment of a global strategy for plant conservation. In the interim, feedback and relevant information were solicited from Parties and organizations through submitted views and consultations, for consideration by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in November 2001. The result was SBSTTA recommendation VII/8 on the global strategy.

Views from Parties

The Executive Secretary invited Parties and other governments, in submitting their views on the Strategy, to take note of the proposal contained in the Gran Canaria Declaration and other relevant resolutions, as well as of relevant initiatives referred to in Decision V/10. Views were received from the following Parties:

Belgium (pdf)

Costa Rica (pdf) (in Spanish)

Guyana (pdf and doc)

Iran (Islamic Republic of) (pdf and doc)

Kiribati (pdf)

New Zealand (pdf)

Pakistan (pdf)

Poland (pdf)

Republic of Palau (pdf)

Spain (pdf) (in Spanish)

Thailand (pdf)

IUCN Resolutions endorsing the GSPC

IUCN World Conservation Congress Resolution 25 (pdf)

IUCN World Conservation Congress Resolution 68 (pdf)

Informal consultations

Report (doc and pdf) of the first informal consultation (March 2001, Montreal, Canada) on the Strategy, held on the margins of the sixth meeting of SBSTTA.

Report (doc and pdf) of the Second consultation (17-18 May 2001, London, UK), organized in collaboration with the Gran Canaria Group.

Report (doc and pdf) of the third technical expert meeting (11-13 February 2002, Gran Canaria, Spain).

Submissions from Bolivia and Spain to the meeting

Adoption and refinement of the Strategy

In decision VI/9, the Conference of the Parties adopted the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, and invited relevant organizations to endorse the strategy and contribute to its implementation. Parties and Governments were further invited to develop national and/or regional targets and to incorporate these into relevant plans, programmes and initiatives. National strategies and plans are now available from several Parties.

In the same decision, the Conference of the Parties requested SBSTTA to develop ways and means for promoting implementation of the strategy and for monitoring and assessing progress. To this end, stakeholder consultations and meetings were held on various targets, to clarify the scope of activities under each target, to develop sub-targets or milestones, and to establish baseline data and a series of indicators.

Liaison Group Meeting (11-12 October 2002, Cartagena, Colombia)

In response to decision VI/9, the Executive Secretary invited a group of experts to act as an informal liaison group in order to provide additional guidance on the implementation and monitoring of the strategy. The meeting was organized in collaboration with Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and supported by HSBC, through its “Investing in Nature” partnership.

Report (doc and pdf) of the informal liaison group meeting

Expert meeting on the GSPC (5-7 October, Dingle, Ireland)

The Executive Secretary, in line with decision VI/9 and on the advice of the liaison group, convened an expert meeting to review progress in the stakeholder consultations, and to prepare advice for the development and implementation of the Strategy.

Report (doc) of the Expert Group

Documents of the Expert Group meeting, including stakeholder consultation reports on individual targets. The stakeholder consultation reports are also available here.

Advancing the Strategy

At its seventh meeting, the Conference of the Parties, by decision VII/10, encouraged Parties to identify focal points for the Strategy in order, inter alia, to promote and facilitate implementation and monitoring of the Strategy. The COP also decided to integrate the targets of the Strategy into all relevant programmes of work of the Convention, as these programmes become due for review.

The progress made in reaching the global targets will be reviewed at the eighth and tenth meetings of the Conference of the Parties, in 2006 and 2010 respectively.