Working together for a sustainable snowdrop trade

Kew has been working with Microsoft Ecology, Tbilisi Botanical Garden and Institute of Botany and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) Authorities of Georgia, to survey populations of snowdrops. CITES is an international agreement between governments across the world, that aims to ensure that the international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

A cultivated field of Galanthus woronowii, a species of snowdrop growing wild in Georgia (photo: Richard Wilford)
 

Sometimes, CITES has reason to believe that high levels of international trade in CITES species, may be a threat to their survival in the wild. In the case of wild snowdrops in Georgia, the CITIES Plants Committee selected a review of Galanthus woronowii.

As a result of this review, the CITIES Secretariat secured funding from the Netherlands to find out more about the status of Galanthus woronowii in Georgia and help protect the species for the future. Kew was enlisted to provide technical support.

The aims of the project were to survey cultivated and wild populations of snowdrops (in particular Galanthus woronowii), model potential sustainable harvest, recommend annual quota levels and develop management and monitor systems to allow a long term sustainable trade in the species.

Richard Wilford, Collections Manager in the Hardy Display section at Kew, and Matthew Smith from Microsoft Ecology, joined the Georgian authorities in 2009 to study cultivation sites and the methods employed in growing the snowdrop Galanthus woronowii.

Georgia currently exports 15 million wild snowdrops per year, and these exports make up some 99% of Georgia’s CITES animal and plant trade. Snowdrops are exported via Turkey to the Netherlands where they enter the horticultural market.

To date over 55 sites have been visited and extensive wild populations and cultivated sites have been sampled and mapped. A draft report was submitted to CITES in January 2010.

First published in Kew Scientist

Help Kew save plant life for our future

By making a donation to Kew today, you can help one of the largest and most ambitious conservation projects in the world make a real difference.

Each day the world’s plants are more and more at risk. If we continue on our current path, we will lose a species a day for the next 50 years. Find out how your donation can make a difference.

Give now and support Kew’s global conservation work

Discover Kew's work in Europe...

• Building a global network - Continental Europe
• Kew's work in the UK

Interactive map - Explore Kew around the world

Scientific Research & Data

• CITES trade research
  
• Kew Publishing - CITIES bulb checklist
• Kew Publishing - The Genus Galanthus: A "Botanical Magazine" Monograph by Aaron P. Davis (Author), Christabel King (Illustrator)

Browse Kew News

• In the Gardens
• Science & Conservation news
• How you are helping
• Kew blogs
• All Kew News