Biodiversity and sustainable development are inextricably linked. Biodiversity, at the level of ecosystems, species and genes, forms the foundation of Earth’s life support systems, provides services that underpin human lives and prosperity. Our social and economic well-being depends on biodiversity, as does our future. We recognize that a healthy environment, rich in plants and biodiversity is essential if the great challenges faced by the world – poverty, securing human wellbeing, peace, stability and climate change - are to be addressed.

World leaders gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York in September 2015 adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an ambitious set of universal goals and targets to tackle the challenges facing the world today. Given its importance for sustainability and human well-being, it is not surprising that biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, including aquatic and terrestrial wildlife and genetic resources, feature prominently in the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda, including in poverty eradication, food security and sustainable agriculture, sustainable water management, economic growth, cities and human settlements, sustainable consumption and production, and effective, accountable and inclusive institutions. The new global Agenda for Sustainable Development includes 17 Goals and 169 targets for these goals. This 15-year plan replaces the previously adopted Millennium Development Goals and extends to 2030.

Effective plant conservation will be essential to the achievement of the Agenda for Sustainable Development. The goal of this conference is to bring together plant conservation scientists, policy makers and practitioners from throughout the world to share methods and results that will advance plant conservation measurably and to consider and review the importance of plants for in the achievement of sustainability. We hope that the conference will attract a wide range of participants to share their experiences and further the achievement of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation in this the U.N. Decade of Biological Diversity.

In October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, the 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted an update of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) for the period 2011-2020. This updated GSPC includes 16 targets for plant conservation to be achieved by 2020.

The role of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (GPPC) is recognized by the CBD in supporting GSPC implementation worldwide and this conference aims to help guide future plant conservation priorities.

Conference sessions will take place on Tuesday, June 28 and Wednesday, June 29, 2016.

Following the conference, on Thursday, June 30, a one-day Expert Group meeting will take place to consider the results of the meeting and to prepare a statement from the conference. Attendance for this meeting will be invitation-only. 

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Tuesday, June 28
Theme: Plant conservation and the sustainable development goals

• 9 a.m.
  Lelia Farr, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Missouri Botanical Garden:  Welcome.
• 9:05 a.m.
  Peter Wyse Jackson (GPPC):  Welcome on behalf of the GPPC and Introduction.
• 9:15 a.m.
  Robert Hoft (SCBD): Welcome on behalf of the CBD.
• 9:30 a.m.
  Suzanne Sharrock: (BGCI and GPPC): Keynote: Plant Conservation and the Sustainable Development Goals.
• 10 a.m.  
  Allison Miller: (USA): Keynote: Plant conservation and food security – a key link with the Sustainable Development Goals.
• 10:30 – 11 a.m.
  Coffee Break and Posters
• 11 a.m.  
  James S. Miller (USA):  Integrating plant conservation and sustainable development of local communities: examples from Madagascar.
• 11:20 a.m.  
  HRH Princess Basma bint Ali (Jordan): Integrating plant conservation and landscape management to support sustainable rural livelihoods: an example from Jordan.
• 11:40 a.m.  
  Yonghong Hu (China):  Botanical Garden in the urban environment supports sustainable development of a city - A case study of Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden.
• Noon  
  Discussion and Questions for speakers.
• 12:30 – 2 p.m.
  Lunch and Tours
• 2 p.m.  
  Jan Salick (USA): The relevance of traditional knowledge to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• 2:40 p.m.  
  Ori Fragman-Sapir (Israel):  Conservation in the Middle East, local and international collaborations.
• 3 p.m.  
  Brett A. Summerell (Australia):  Managing biological invasions: the impact of exotic diseases on plant communities in Australia.
• 3:20 - 3:40 p.m.
  Coffee Break
• 3:40 p.m.  
  Kate Sackman (USA): The North American Botanic Garden Strategy for Plant Conservation.
• 4 p.m.  
  Gary A. Krupnick and Nancy Knowlton (USA):  #EarthOptimism: Success Stories in Plant Conservation.
• 4:20 p.m.  
  Colin Clubbe (UK): Kew’s role in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals
• 4:40 p.m.  
  Discussion and Questions for Speakers
• 5:30 p.m.
  Close for the day

Wednesday, June 29
Theme of the day: Contemporary practices, priorities and perspectives in plant conservation: achieving the GSPC and Aichi goals.

• 9 a.m.  
  Keynote: James Aronson (France and USA): Keynote:  Future perspectives in Ecological Restoration.
• 9:30 a.m.  
  Pierre-André Loizeau (Switzerland) and Peter Wyse Jackson (USA):  The World Flora Online project: meeting the needs for baseline information to support plant conservation and sustainable development.
• 9:50 a.m. 
  Gustavo Martinelli (Brazil):  Assessing the status of the world’s most plant diverse country: the Centre for Flora Conservation (CNC Flora).
• 10:10 a.m.
  Domatilla Raimondo, Zaitoon Rabaney, L. von Staden (South Africa):  South Africa's Strategy for Plant Conservation.
• 10:30 – 11 a.m.
  Coffee Break
• 11 a.m.  
  Adam B. Smith, Matthew A. Albrecht, and Quinn G. Long (USA).  Shifting targets: Efficient conservation seed banking in light of current threats, threats from future climate change, and uncertainty.
• 11:20 a.m.  
  Maïté Delmas (France):  The Sud Expert Plantes programme (SEP2D), supporting GSPC achievement and the Aichi targets.
• 11:40 a.m.  
  Peter Bernhardt, Retha Eden-Meier (USA) and Zong-Xin Ren (China):  Conservation Challenges and the Reproductive Ecology of Threatened and Rare Orchids.
• Noon  
  Valida Ali-zade  and Sevda Ibrahimova (Azerbaijan):  Predicting the risk of extinction of threatened and rare species of the Azerbaijan flora.
• 12:20 p.m.  
  Didik Widyatmoko and Rosniati Apriani Risna (Indonesia): A role of Indonesian Botanic Gardens in achieving GSPC goals
• 12:40– 2 p.m.
  Lunch and Tours
• 2 p.m.  
  Lucy Sutherland (Australia):  Implementing Access and Benefit Sharing for Seed Banking.
• 2:20 p.m.  
  Peggy Olwell (U.S.A.):  Seeds and the GSPC Targets 3, 4, 8 & 15 & Aichi Target 15.
• 2:40 p.m.  
  David Galbraith (Canada):  The GSPC and Canada's 2020 Biodiversity Goals and Targets: Plant-Related Responses Supporting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. 
• 3 p.m.  
  David A. Neill, Hugo Romero-Saltos and Mercedes Asanza, (Ecuador):  Plant conservation in Ecuador - Progress and challenges.  
• 3:20 p.m.
  Coffee Break
• 4:10 p.m.  
  Christy Edwards (USA): Using conservation genetics to support effective plant conservation.
• 4:30 p.m.  
  Andrew Wyatt (USA):   The role of horticulture in achieving critical plant conservation priorities: examples from the Indian Ocean.
• 4:50 p.m.
  Discussion and Conclusions
• 5:30 p.m.
  Close

Meeting rooms will be equipped with computer projection facilities for MS PowerPoint presentations.

Due to cost considerations, we regret that it will not be possible to provide translation facilities. The working language of the conference will be English.

Poster sessions will also be held and will be easily accessible for participants.

A cocktail reception will take place Tuesday, June 28 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The meeting will provide transportation in the morning from the conference hotel(s) to the Missouri Botanical Garden and at the end of the sessions from the Missouri Botanical Garden to the hotels.

Special rates for delegates have been arranged at the Drury Inn & Suites Forest Park, located just a few miles from the Garden. Book by May 26, 2016 to receive the special conference rate.

There is no registration fee for the conference. Coffee breaks will be provided by the organizers and lunch will be available for purchase.

There is a wide range of restaurants, bars and coffee shops within easy distance of the hotels for times when meals will not be provided. Breakfast will be responsibility of individual conference participants.
 

Please remember that each participant is responsible for making their own accommodation bookings.  In exceptional cases where a delegate is experiencing particular difficulties, please contact the conferences organizers for assistance.  

Intending delegates are encouraged to submit abstracts of papers or posters for presentation using the form provided. Abstracts of proposals for workshops will also be welcomed. Oral presentations should link closely to one or more of the GSPC targets, to broader local, national or regional GSPC implementation making particular note of the links with the Aichi Targets and/or the Sustainable Development Goals. Posters may be of a more general nature, but should still compliment the overall aims of the conference. Overhead and slide projectors and computer projection facilities will be available in lecture theaters. 

The conference organisers will notify participants at the earliest possible date regarding decision on acceptance of proposed presentations. The conference organisers may request a change in format of presentation from oral to poster format if such a change is required to achieve the best possible technical program.

Receptions

A welcoming reception will be hosted at the Missouri Botanical Garden on Tuesday evening, June 28. Transportation to the hotel will be provided after the reception. 

Accompanying Persons
The conference organizers cannot provide activities for accompanying person not attending the conference. However, there are a very wide variety of tourist and cultural activities available in and around St Louis, including city tours, visits to historical sites and areas of natural beauty. Accompanying persons will have free access to the Missouri Botanical Garden on production of their conference badge.

During the summer months the weather in St Louis is hot and humid; casual, light clothing is suggested.

St Louis is well-served by air, with frequent connecting flights from Atlanta, Washington D.C., Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Miami and other cities. The airport lies approximately 10 miles [15 kilometres] north west of the city center. Information on how to reach the Garden and hotel will be provided on the conference website. 

Participants from some countries may require visas. We cannot undertake to arrange visas, but it is recommended you contact your local U.S. Embassy and relevant webs to ensure that you investigate and complete any necessary entry requirements in good time before your intended travel date. Letters of invitation to help facilitate visa applications are available on request from the organizers.

Unfortunately sponsorship opportunities for participants are very limited and no financial support is available to support travel costs. Delegates in need of lower cost accommodation options, particularly those attending from developing countries, should contact the organisers for further information.