Only Two Years On - the Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens continues to Flourish

Dear Colleagues,

What a world changing year that has confronted us! The Covid19 pandemic has impacted us personally and the management of so many arboreta, botanic gardens and natural landscapes. Sadly, some have lost their lives, had their health severely affected or have known others to suffer in this way. Many have lost employment benefits, had to deal with reduced staffing and visitation, experience severe losses of revenue, and through all of this, work so hard to safeguard their living collections. It is our earnest desire that the New Year will bring renewed hope and restored conditions for you all.

We are reminded of the Principles and Values of the Alliance that is based on the Living Systems of the landscapes that we are privileged to care for.

• Self-organisation around a shared purpose • Recruit for and celebrate diversity • Maintain momentum and energy flows • Nurture relationships • Plan for resilience and adaptability

We have all needed to substantially lean on these principles to move forward against difficult times. The evidence of this is in the significant growth of the Alliance and the emerging initiatives and projects as outlined further on.

1. Climate Change Alliance Membership There has been an absolute, exciting surge in interest and membership over the last 12 months. We welcomed 276 new members (organisational and associate members) from 75 countries and cultures across the globe to build on our Principle: Recruit for and celebrate diversity

Membership as of December 2019 Membership as of December 2020

Commended for their support are peak botanical industry bodies: Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), Botanic Gardens of Australia and New Zealand (BGANZ), International Association of Botanic Gardens (IABG) and the American Public Gardens Association (APGA). We have also had strong involvement from founding members and would like to highlight the individual contributions of Paul Smith (BGCI), Graciela Barreiro (Botanic Garden of the City of "Carlos Thays"), Esteban Manrique (Royal Botanic Gardens CSIC), Mary Burke (UC Davis and Public Arboretum), and Eamonn Flanagan (BGANZ). Of course, there are so many more to mention from horticulturists to directors who have worked hard for the cause – thank you!

This body of membership now provides us with a strong platform to advance responses to climate change, advocate for safeguarding of living landscapes, and provide tools and support for effective stewardship.

2. Flagship Project - Global Climate Risk Assessment Tool The Global Climate Risk Assessment Tool project is a world-first initiative to provide climatic data and risk assessment support for taxa listings in GlobalTreeSearch for arboreta, botanic gardens and other users. It is on track to have a working prototype available in March 2021 with the aim to be completed in June 2021. The Alliance is the lead agency working with BGCI, University of Tasmania and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. These organisations along with the International Association of Botanic Gardens have provided direct funding or in-kind support to enable this pioneering project to come to life.

Outcomes to date include: • Plant taxonomy has been validated and 17.7 million GBIF records have been linked to 48,481 distinct taxa • 3,673 institutional gardens in the BGCI database have had their spatial location verified using google maps geocoding (finding spatial coordinates from addresses) • Climate variables have been determined for GBIF and urban plant records, and current and future climate variables have been determined for all gardens. • Climate change scenarios such as the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) have been adopted as outlined in the ARC6 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The scenarios selected are SSP2 in 2040-2060 and SSP3 in 2080-2100. These correspond to a moderate, emissions limited scenario and a business-as-usual scenario.

Figure 1 Temperature niche analysis for Quercus agrifolia

Importantly, we would like to offer online workshops to seek your feedback on a prototype of the Tool in late February 2021. Please advise of your expression of interest to attend these. Note that we will need to cap involvement to about 30 people in two sessions to manage effective interaction and time zone differences. More details will be forthcoming in the New Year.

This initiative meets the Alliance principle: Plan for resilience and adaptability

3. Book Chapter - Botanical Gardens Facing Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change Martín M.P., Barreiro G., Duque A.M., Magalhães Z., Manrique E. (2020) Botanical Gardens Facing Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Change. In: Leal Filho W., Azul A.M., Brandli L., Lange Salvia A., Wall T. (eds) Life on Land. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_124-1

Congratulations to Esteban Manrique, Graciela Barreiro and all the other contributors from member organisations to this work highlighting the critical role of botanic gardens in addressing the effects of climate change. Please see link to article above – (you may need an organisational subscription to access this.)

4. Membership contributions to international conferences, seminars and workshops

• February 2020 – Climate Change and the Alliance profiled in a presentation by the Real Jardín Botánico, CSIC, Madrid at the International Symposium on Plant Taxonomy and Ethnobotany, Kolkata, India • July 2020 - online lecture by RBGV on landscape succession and climate change for the Institute of Systematics, Evolution, Biodiversity (ISYEB), Jardin des Plantes of the Museum of Natural History, . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vn8lAlHGc0 • July 2020 - online presentation and workshop (Adapting Living Landscapes: Crafting an Agile and Dynamic Response to a Changing Climate) from UC Davis and Public Arboretum, University of British Columbia Botanic Garden and RBGV at the American Public Gardens Association Virtual Annual Conference: Recrafting Gardens for a Changed World. see https://2020.publicgardens.org/event/adapting-living-landscapes-crafting-agile-and- dynamic-response-changing-climate (we have a recording of a short video available for those interested) • October 2020 - online presentation by RBGV (Who is Climate Changing your Collections?) at the Sibbaldia and Plant Network Conference, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, UK (we have a recording of a short video available for those interested).

5. Establishment of the Ibero-American Node of Botanical Gardens against Climate Change (NIJAB-CC) This association connects Spanish speaking countries (, Brazil, Colombia and ) and aims to establish common bases of work in matters of research, conservation, education and dissemination to act against climate change. Initiatives that are being developed include a phenological monitoring project across continents and countries using the same plant species, studying plant lineages more sensitive to climate change, either in natural populations or in the gardens themselves, taking advantage of the differences in latitudinal gradient; and improvements to the recording of meteorological data and climate change indices from the botanical gardens. See more at http://www.rjb.csic.es/jardinbotanico/jardin/contenido.php?Pag=106&tipo=noticia&cod=7665&f bclid=IwAR0f2jLx32-7RTd1vQGiDBZcNv9HqXIAirf-SW1Dg41b-6ieTQgiuS3MFyo

This initiative is a great example of the principle from the CCABG Charter: Self-organisation around a shared purpose

6. Proposed Alliance developments • Horticultural network: an idea originally proposed by Graciela Barreiro, Botanic Garden of the City of Buenos Aires "Carlos Thays" to share multicultural expertise in managing collections and landscape. There have been some enthusiastic online meetings with employees from the Botanic Garden of the City of Buenos Aires "Carlos Thays", South African Botanical Institute (SANBI) and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. There is strong interest to develop this further and facilitate interactions with other business units in such as education and marketing. (Please advise if you are interested in becoming involved) This initiative meets the Alliance principle: Nurture relationships • Science/Research Node: discussions have been held with UC Davis and Public Arboretum, University of Tasmania and RBGV towards creating a supporting scientific structure and peer network that can facilitate Alliance research projects. A discussion paper / terms of reference is being developed - recognising that this group needs wider and diverse scientific representation across cultures and languages. We are therefore keen to receive expressions of interest in helping shape this group and contributing to the research outcomes – please let us know!

7. The Morton Arboretum 2020 Update In 2020, The Morton Arboretum approved a new strategic plan to lead and guide the institution into the next 100 years. In this strategic plan, climate change was outlined as one of the top four key pursuits. This is an important lens that The Morton Arboretum uses as it seeks to be a part of global solutions, through understanding how trees grow, thrive, adapt, and evolve in their environment, to engage key audiences. Currently, The Morton Arboretum is using data collected from its living collections over the past ~100-year history to understand how climate influences the success of species in their collection. We are engaging partners to strengthen the regional urban forest through planting projects, job development, and Carbon+ and Impact Certification projects. Arboretum scientists continue to publish relevant studies on climate change, engage with the media, and receive grants to research how climate change will impact trees and ecosystems, locally and globally. Finally, The Arboretum catalyzes its audiences, from staff, to visitors, to educators and students, to act and learn about the impact of climate change on trees.

8. Carlos Thays Botanical Garden 2020 Update

Establishment of a Patagonian botanic garden - the Botanic Garden of the Isla Victoria In January 2020, Argentina’s National Parks Administration officially declared the central area of the Island of Victoria, part of Nahuel Huapi National Park in the country’s far south, as the Botanic Garden of the Isla Victoria. With the support of BGCI, Graciela Barreiro, Director of the Botanic Garden Carlos Thays in Buenos Aires, and Adolfo Moretti, the newly appointed Director of the Botanic Garden of the Isla Victoria are commended as the driving forces behind this brilliant outcome (Adolfo Moretti was prompt to join up to the Alliance soon after his appointment). Their efforts have resulted in an invaluable contribution to ex situ conservation of Patagonian plant diversity in a region increasingly affected by climate change. Whilst research and development of ex situ conservation collections of the Patagonia’s threatened endemic and native flora will be at the heart of the botanic garden, it will also have areas open to the public to support environmental sensitization of the conservation and restoration needs of the unique ecosystems found in the Patagonian Andean forest region. Endemic flagship plant species include Austrocedrus chilensis, Nothofagus dombeyi and Luma apiculata. The site includes historic plantings of the remarkable ‘Monumental Arboretum’ with specimens of 120 forest species from Argentina as well as from around the world, including Picea omorica, Eucalyptus coccifera, Sequoiadendron giganteum and Metasequoia glyptostroboides, as well as a three hectare nursery with a beautifully restored greenhouse.

Nitrogen dioxide monitoring The arboreal specimens that make up the living collection of the Botanical Garden provide environmental services such as carbon fixers and storage, retention of particles, retention of rainwater and energy savings due to moderation of extreme temperatures, in compliance with the strategies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change. In March 2020, the Carlos Thays Botanical Garden began its first nitrogen dioxide NO2 monitoring campaign within the grounds. High levels of nitrogen dioxide are associated with urban pollution and are harmful to vegetation— damaging foliage, decreasing growth, or reducing yields, as well as affecting human health. This campaign is part of a bimonthly monitoring plan that will be carried out until January 2021. Its objective, using passive tubes, is to detect different levels of concentration of this atmospheric pollutant that is mainly associated with the combustion of urban transport engines.

Phenological program In association with the Ibero-American Node of Botanical Gardens against Climate Change (NIJAB- CC), the Carlos Thays Botanical Garden had provided information on monitoring of site-specific climatic variables, established lists of taxa for phenological monitoring in Buenos Aires (including those taxa with previous history) and appointed personnel responsible for this monitoring. (see also item 5.)

9. Do you have news? These items are what we are immediately aware of but know that many colleagues are working to address the impacts of climate change. We welcome your news and updates to share. Please advise us so we can circulate this on your behalf to the whole membership.

10. The way forward On the enthusing strength of the growing membership, the Alliance Secretariat will convene in the New Year along with founding members to seek feedback and review strategic directions of the Alliance Roadmap. In the meantime, we welcome your ideas and suggestions.

Thank you so much for your dedication and commitment to continue to believe in the benefits of global collaboration to confront the challenges of climate change for our living world.

We wish you safety and every success for the New Year and look forward to continuing to work with you all.

On behalf of the CCABG Secretariat https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/plants-and-landscapes/climate-change-alliance