Every day, extraordinary new species of life are discovered, named, and introduced to the world. Every day, species that none of us even know about anonymously go extinct. Every day, ecological connections and relations between all life on Earth are uncovered. Every day.

Biodiversity enables life as we know it, from our first breath to our last. It sustains the network of life that feeds us, protects us, employs us, cures us, and restores us. As one of the world’s most purposeful and passionate advocates for biodiversity conservation, botanic gardens around the globe share their plants, people and places with millions of people every day. They do so in ways aimed at broadening public awareness, deepening scientific knowledge, building skills and capacity for more sustainable living, sparking interests and shaping values, and cultivating the will to act among citizens and communities.

Every day, botanic gardens do this worthy work, and as a global network of peers, we get better when we have the opportunity to connect with each other, learn from each other, challenge each other, ask big questions, and together, strengthen our impacts.

In this spirit, BGCI’s 9th International Congress on Education in Botanic Gardens is focused on leveraging this vibrant network of global botanic gardens to think big about how we can best engage people in biodiversity issues and look into the future of education in botanic gardens.