Volume 6 • Number 2 rBotanic Gardeons Conservation Internoational Education Revitew s October 2009 Greening university minds Building an international encyclopedia of life La biodiversité à l’école du quartier Tree bark: a world to discover International Year of Biodiversity The Fairchild Challenge/ BGCI Global Option 2009/2010 For the second year running, BGCI is teaming up with The Fairchild Challenge to offer an exciting Global Option for students aged 14-19. This year the Option is open not only to Fairchild Challenge sites but also to all sites participating in Plant Conservation Day (www.plantconservationday.org). The challenge - design a CD cover! London-based band Storey, an exciting new talent on the UK music scene, are releasing their latest single ‘Footprints’ in honour of The Fairchild Challenge/BGCI Global Option. Taken from Storey’s new album “Streets Will Fold”, ‘Footprints’ is a vivid, youthful call-to-arms to tackle climate change. Local schools are invited to take the challenge and design a front cover and attention-grabbing text for the ‘Footprints’ CD single. Gardens then select their top two entries and forward them to BGCI not later than 1st February 2010. The winning design will be featured on the cover of the CD single. For more information log onto: www.bgci.org/education/2383/ Index to Roots issues 21 –27 and volumes 1 –4! Search through Roots Index to find organizations, authors, meetings, subjects, resources and places. BGCI has published hundreds of articles and resources over the years, covering many different aspects of botanic garden education. Now you can easily find the information you’re looking for on-line. Log onto www.bgci. org/education/rootsindexes/ to start searching. Compiled by Chris Hobson, Roots index covers 15 editions of Roots from December 2000 to October 2007. Contents 02 Editorial: Julia Willison, Botanic Gardens Conservation International David Jeffreys, Director, Media Communications, Carnyx Consulting, UK Editor : Julia Willison Building an international encyclopedia of life Cover Photo : Cover photo: Glenveagh Castle Gardens, 05 Ireland Marie Studer. Encyclopedia of Life, Harvard University, USA Design : John Morgan, Seascape. Email: [email protected] 08 El valor de los jardines españoles en educación para la conservación de la biodiversidad Forthcoming Issues Valery López de los Monteros Giner, Paris, France Volume 7 Number 1 – Education and Horticulture Last submission date January 10, 2010 Volume 8 Number 2 – Education and the GSPC Alpine biodiversity in a climate of change Last submission date June 20, 2010 11 Suzanne Kapelari, University Botanic Gardens Innsbruck, Austria Roots is produced by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) . It is published twice a year and is sent to all BGCI members. Membership is open to all 14 La biodiversité à l’école du quartier interested individuals, institutions and organisations that Réjane Brun, Jardin Botanique de Bordeaux, France support the aims of BGCI (see inside back cover for membership application form). 18 Potatoes don’t grow on trees Further details available from: Annastella Gambini, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy • Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Descanso House, 199 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3BW UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 8332 5953, Fax: +44 (0)20 8332 5956 21 The green theatre Email: [email protected], www.bgci.org Sean O’Gaoithin, Carol O’Callaghan, Glenveagh Castle Gardens, Ireland • BGCI-Russia, c/o Main Botanical Gardens, and Dawn Sanders, Gardens for Learning, UK Botanicheskaya st., 4, Moscow 127276, Russia. Tel: +7 (095) 219 6160 / 5377, Fax: +7 (095) 218 0525, E-mail: [email protected], www.bgci.ru Tree bark: a world to discover • BGCI-Netherlands, c/o Delft University of Technology 23 Julianalaan 67, NL-2628 BC Delft, Netherlands Professor Claudio Longo, Brera Botanic Garden, Italy Tel: +31 15 278 4714 Fax: +31 15 278 2355 email: [email protected] www.botanischetuin.tudelft.nl 26 Greening university minds • BGCI-Canarias, c/o Jardín Botánico Canario Viera y Amparo Bélgica Cerón Carpio, Licet Olguín Hernández, Karina A. Cue Clavijo, Apartado de Correos 14, Tafira Alta 35017, Hernández, Maricela Rodríguez-Acosta, Benemerita Universidad Autónoma Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Spain. Tel: +34 928 21 95 80/82/83, Fax: +34 928 21 95 81, de Puebla, Mexico E-mail: [email protected] • BGCI- China, 723 Xingke Rd., Guangzhou 510650 China. Tel:(86)20-37252692. email: [email protected] 28 Resources www.bgci.org/china Educational resources for botanic gardens • BGCI – South East Asia, c/o Registry, Singapore Botanic Gardens, 1 Cluny Road, Singapore 259569. Email: [email protected], • BGCI-Colombia, c/o Jardín Botánico de Bogotá, Jose Celestino Mutis, Av. No. 61-13 – A.A. 59887, Santa Fe de Bogotá, D.C., Colombia. Tel: +57 630 0949, 05 11 14 Fax: +57 630 5075, E-mail: [email protected], www.humboldt.org.co/jardinesdecolombia/html/la_red.htm • BGCI-Deutschland, c/o Botanische Gärten der Universität Bonn, Meckenheimer Allee 171, 53115 Bonn, Germany. Tel: +49 2 2873 9055, Fax: +49 2 28731690, E-mail: [email protected] • BGCI(US) Inc, c/o Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, Illinois 60022, USA. E-mail: [email protected] 08 BGCI is a worldwide membership organisation established in 1987. Its mission is to mobilise botanic gardens and engage partners in securing plant diversity for the well- being of people and the planet . BGCI is an independent 18 21 23 26 organisation registered in the United Kingdom as a charity (Charity Reg No 1098834) and a company limited by guarantee, No 4673175. BGCI is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation in the USA and is a registered non-profit organisation in Russia. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Boards or staff of BGCI or of its members. BGCI would like to thank the co-editors for their work in the production of Roots: For the French Section: For the Spanish Section: For the English Section: Loïc Ruellan – Conservatoire Botanique National de Brest, France Lourdes Rico-Arce – Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK Jan Chamier Anne Lindsey – France Veronica Franco – Jardín Botánico Xiitbal neek, Mexico Robert Orr Allison Marshall – France Orlik Gómez García – Jardín Botánico Franciso Javier Clavijero, Joachim Gratzfeld – BGCI Mexico Roots • Vol 6 (2) 01 2010 sera l’Année internationale de la Biodiversité, mais qui sera de la partie ? 2010 es el Año Internacional de la Biodiversidad, pero ¿quiénes vendrán a la fiesta? David Jeffreys and Julia Willison It’s the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, but who’s coming to the party? Editorial - English Editorial - Français Editorial - Español While governments and organisations Pendant que les gouvernements et les Mientras que gobiernos y organizaciones around the world are gearing up for the organisations à travers le monde se a nivel mundial se encuentran en los International Year of Biodiversity next préparent à l’Année mondiale de la preparativos del Año Internacional de la year, there is scant evidence that the biodiversité l’année prochaine, très peu Biodiversidad, el cual tendrá lugar el public at large are any the wiser. In a de preuves attestent du fait que le grand próximo año, existe poca evidencia de recent European Union survey for public n’en soit pour autant plus avisé. que la inmensa mayoría del público example, although a majority of people D’après une enquête récente, conduite desconoce del tema. Por ejemplo, en claimed to have heard of the term, par l’Union européenne, même si la una encuesta realizada recientemente barely a third of those questioned said grande majorité des gens affirment en por la Unión Europea, a pesar de que la they understood what biodiversity avoir entendu parler, à peine un tiers des mayoría de las personas encuestadas meant. personnes interrogées disent sostienen haber escuchado el término, comprendre la signification du terme apenas un tercio de las ellas dijeron These are sobering statistics, given the « biodiversité ». entender el significado de biodiversidad. imminence of 2010 and the importance that has been attached to it. This, after Ces statistiques sont attristantes étant Estos resultados son graves, dada la all, is the deadline by which donnée l’imminence de l’année 2010, et proximidad del año 2010 y la importancia governments around the world l’importance qui lui a été attribuée. que se le ha adjudicado al evento. Ésta a committed to achieve a significant Après tout, cette date est un ultimatum fin de cuentas, es la fecha límite para la reduction of the current rate of que se sont donnés les gouvernements cual los gobiernos de todo el mundo se biodiversity loss at regional, national and du monde entier pour réduire comprometieron a lograr una reducción global levels, for the benefit of all life on significativement la diminution de la significativa en las tasas de pérdida de Earth. Sadly all the available evidence biodiversité à l’échelle régionale, biodiversidad a escala regional, nacional points to the contrary. Take Brazil, home nationale et mondiale, dans l’intérêt de y global, en pos de toda la vida en el to 62% of all Amazonian rainforest, tous les êtres vivants. Malheureusement, planeta Tierra. Lamentablemente, toda la where an average 18,100km 2 of forest toutes les données disponibles indiquent evidencia disponible señala lo contrario. per year was lost between 1988 and le contraire. Prenons l’exemple du Brésil, Tomemos el caso de Brasil, que alberga 2006. Or Africa, which during the same qui héberge 62% de la forêt tropicale el 62% del total de la selva amazónica, period lost an area of forest comparable amazonienne : en moyenne, 18.100 km 2 donde se han perdido 18,100 km 2 de to that for the whole of South America.