The AETFAT Association

The "Association pour l'Etude Taxonomique de la Flore d'Afrique Tropicale" or "Association for the Taxonomic Study of the Flora of Tropical Africa" (AETFAT) was established at the botanical institute of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1951. It was intended as a platform for contact between colonial botanists working on African regional floras in Paris, London, Lisbon, Brussels etc. to report and publish their findings. The AETFAT Congress is the main meeting place for those scientists studying the vegetation and the taxonomy of the wild plant and fungal species of Tropical Africa. The meetings are held every 3 years and have been held in Oxford, Paris, Lisbon, Uppsala, Geneva, Las Palmas, St. Louis, Hamburg, Wageningen and Meise. The first meeting to be held in Africa was in Pretoria in 1982, then in Zomba in 1991, in Harare in 1997 and in Addis Ababa in 2003. The 18th AETFAT Congress was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from 26 February to 2 March 2007. The next AETFAT congress will be held in Madagascar in April 2010.

Over the period of 50 years since AETFAT was first established, the interest and participation of African botanists has increased greatly. Especially in the last 10 years botanists working in Africa and African botanists involved in African botanical projects has more than doubled. AETFAT has now become "the" meeting place for botanists studying the African flora, young and old, north and south, classical floristics and modern approaches.

The AETFAT Congress addresses floristics, systematics, phytogeography and conservation of the flora of Africa. The emphasis is on floristics and systematics as this gives the base-line information for any biodiversity research. The flora of Africa is still incomplete; during the AETFAT congress an important topic is always the progress on the major regional floras such as Flora of Tropical East Africa, Flora Zambesiaca, Flore du Cameroun, Flora of Ethiopia, Flora of Somalia, Flora of Central Africa, etc. AETFAT also addresses the important issues of conservation and sustainable use of plants, and making available the knowledge and information on African plants to all interested in Africa and elsewhere.

AETFAT remains a dynamic organization and without having a very formal structure, continues to be a portal for the exchange and information on African botany.

Contact: aetfat-sec@kew.org

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