UK Overseas Territories
Recent Achievements
Collections (2001-2005)
Since 2001 a collections programme has been initiated to support ongoing conservation work in the Overseas Territories. Collections comprise herbarium specimens, seed collections, plants, DNA and macro-fungi specimens.
A new project, Developing a Species and Specimens Database for the UKOTs Programme, was started to document specimens held in the Herbarium. The process is underway to document and barcode all historical UKOTs specimens held in the Herbarium. Collections from current projects are barcoded and added as they come into the Herbarium. The database currently holds 1,434 specimen records with the oldest historical record being one of Burchell’s collections of Commidendron robustum subsp. robustum from St Helena in 1807.
Participants from the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) and Falkland Islands attended the 8-week Herbarium Techniques course at Kew in 2003 enabling them to undertake herbarium collecting programmes in their home Territories.
Systematic seed collection programmes concentrating on threatened species are underway in four Territories: BVI, St Helena, Ascension, and the Falkland Islands. A training workshop was held in each Territory with seed collections being sent to the MSB at Wakehurst Place for long-term storage. Germination data and horticulture protocols for each species banked are repatriated to Territories on completion of tests. To date, collections of 68 species from six Territories (Ascension, Bermuda, BVI, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, and St Helena) have been banked at the Millennium Seed Bank.
DNA banking of the flora of South Georgia has been completed, and is the first flora to be fully banked (24 species). Key species from current Darwin projects are being collected for DNA extraction and banking.
150 fungal collections have been made in the British Virgin Islands.
Eleven threatened species from two Territories (BVI and Montserrat) have been brought into cultivation in-Territory and two of these also at Kew. For six of these species this is the first time in cultivation.
Baseline Plant Diversity Research (2001-2005)
The current knowledge of plant diversity in UKOTs is variable. In some Territories the flora is well known but in others knowledge is lacking or partial. Consequently our main focus has been to document plant species and undertake conservation assessments of their status in those Territories where this is a priority.
In BVI we completed the 3 year Darwin project Integrating National Parks, Education and Community Development (British Virgin Islands) (1998-2001). This included the production of checklists for two protected areas: Virgin Gorda National Park and the Anegada RAMSAR site. Checklists have been started for the islands of Great Tobago and Jost Van Dyke.
In Montserrat, as part of the Darwin project Enabling the People of Montserrat to Conserve the Centre Hills, a biodiversity assessment is underway and we have completed a botanical assessment of the 30 initial biodiversity assessment points.
In BVI as part of the Darwin Initiative Assessment of the Coastal Biodiversity of Anegada, an updated checklist with full conservation assessments for Anegada has been completed. This will be published in 2006.
In the TCI an initial assessment of the botanical diversity of East and Middle Caicos has been undertaken.
Comparative Plant Biology (2001-2005)
One of the components of James Richardson’s Kew-funded PhD (completed prior to the 2001 science audit) involved the use of St Helenan Rhamnaceae to date radiation of Phylica in S Africa leading to a publication in Nature during this period.
Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Resources (2001-2005)
No activity in this area during this period.
Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (2001-2005)
This is the major focus of the UKOTs programme and so has seen the greatest range of activities in current project activity, as well as in the provision of horticulture support, capacity building and policy advice for Territories.
The occurrence and distribution of invasive alien plants has been documented and their threats to various indigenous floras assessed. In Grand Cayman as part of the Darwin Initiative project an initial assessment has been made of the extent of the invasive species threat post Hurricane Ivan. A workshop was run in Bermuda to raise awareness and develop an action plan for dealing with invasive plant species, a major problem in Bermuda. Key invasive plant species were identified in Anegada, BVI and a programme of action instigated. An invasive species workshop was run at the UKOTs Conference in Bermuda in 2003 (see: www.ukotcf.org/pdf/BermConf/pages257to278.pdf)
Threatened species have been identified, formal Red List assessments undertaken and action plans for conservation management developed. All assessments are available on the IUCN Red List website (www.redlist.org). A Status Report for the British Virgin Islands’ Plant Species Red List has been produced. Kew contributed to the Red List Authority for the IUCN/SSC South Atlantic Islands Plant Specialist Group, which completed full Red List assessments of endemic plants of St Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha and the Falkland Islands in 2003. Together with the Cayman Islands Government a Regional Red List for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac was produced as part of a project funded by the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP). Kew will be publishing this in 2006.
Training workshops were run in-Territory and training opportunities were provided at Kew for conservationists from UKOTS. Fifteen training workshops were held in five Territories (Ascension, BVI, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and St Helena). Four UKOTs participants attended International Diploma courses at Kew (St Helena, BVI, TCI, Falkland Islands). Horticulturists from Ascension, St Helena and BVI gained experience of ex situ conservation techniques at Kew.
As part of our continuing support for the re-development of the JR O’Neal Botanic Garden in BVI a conservation nursery was established and training provided to Botanic Garden staff.
A conservation genetics report on endemic Phylica species on St Helena and Tristan da Cunha was sent to the Territories in 2004.
Protocols have been developed for ex situ conservation of threatened UKOTs species in the Micropropagation unit, notably the critically endangered fern Pteris adscensionis from Ascension and the critically endangered trees Trochetiopsis ebenus and T. erythroxylon from St Helena.
Various awareness raising activities were undertaken in the UK and in-Territory to raise the profile of the UKOTs biodiversity. The 'Treasured Islands' Exhibition at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2004, a collaboration with the Eden Project to highlight plant diversity in two Darwin projects (BVI and Seychelles), was awarded a silver Lindley medal. The 'Message in a Bottle' Exhibition at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2005 highlighted Kew’s work with threatened species featuring plants from BVI and St Helena and was awarded a silver-gilt Lindley medal. Photographs and photograms of key plant species identified during Darwin fieldwork in BVI were displayed for a year in an exhibition at Wakehurst Place Gallery entitled 'Caught in Time: capturing the essence of the British Virgin Islands botanical riches'. Support was given to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office through providing UKOTs stands at their Open Days. A series of conservation posters were produced for distribution in BVI. Regular articles were written in a variety of newsletters including Forum News (Newsletter of the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum), OnCourse (Kew’s International Training Programme Newsletter); Darwin Anegada Newsletter; Montserrat Centre Hills Newsletter. A talk on conservation activities in BVI was given to HRH The Princess Royal during her official visit to BVI.
Kew became the CITES scientific authority for plants of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 2002.