Plants and policy: Tackling global challenges

Where to start in a biodiversity crisis? 

With at least 390,000 plant species across the planet, and new species being discovered every year, there is a serious shortage of conservation resources to understand and monitor every single species. There is a risk that many species may go extinct before scientists can assess them, or before they are even discovered – potentially losing irreplaceable medicines, food sources, habitats, and climate regulators.

IUCN Red List Assessments

Over the past three years, Kew has been accelerating the number of plants being assessed for the IUCN Red List – the global source of information on species extinction risk. From 126 species of coffee (Coffea), to a plant genus that forms the basis of the Amazon rainforest (Myrcia), the status of many plant species has been captured for the first time. As well as continuing to assess new species, Kew’s Plant Assessment Unit will also be conducting further assessments – creating more ‘snapshots’ for species, so that not only the threat status of species can be determined, but also trends over time.

This is a particularly important indicator for measuring progress towards conservation targets - it allows us to answer key questions such as how many species are threatened with extinction, and are conservation efforts reversing these trends? These form an important component of our understanding of the current biodiversity crisis and help us measure progress towards global conservation targets.

Kew is working to champion plants and fungi, and increase their representation in these metrics, which have historically been under-represented in these assessments. 

The multiple value(s) of plants 

Conservation work always requires a combination of approaches – and conserving species in their native habitats is crucial. An important limitation of seed banks is that not all seeds can be banked. This is particularly true of many tropical plant species – the very same species that form the basis of ecosystems that are globally relevant for climate regulation, and critical for millions upon millions of people locally, who depend on forests for food, medicine and livelihoods. 

The tropics are therefore a major priority for biodiversity conservation at a global level - nowhere are the intricate links between biodiversity, sustainable development and climate change clearer.

Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs)

Building on an approach that has secured habitats across Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, Kew has carefully adapted Important Plant Area (IPA) criteria to suit the paradox of the tropics: a relative lack of plant data, but urgent need for action. 

Working closely with partners in-country, Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) are identified within each country according to a range of criteria – from areas of unrivalled botanical richness, to concentrations of threatened species, to areas that are important locally because of plants that are used. 

Formally recognising these areas can help make a compelling case for protecting habitats, in regions that are trying to balance development with preserving irreplaceable biodiversity. TIPAs can help with the planning of protected areas, contributing to global goals to protect 17 per cent of land, or lead to legal recognition for community areas, contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They can also put plants on the radar in the planning stages of development projects, allowing short-term and long-term trade-offs to be more accurately considered.   

TIPAs therefore act as a tool to empower local decision making, whilst simultaneously highlighting how national plant conservation fits within an international picture – bridging gaps between global policy and national context.