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Why plant conservation? | WWF-UK | WWF network
Why plant conservation?
Plants are the basis of life on Earth. They have always been, and always will be, central to people's livelihoods. This is obviously and immediately the case in developing countries, where people rely directly on the plants which they grow themselves or which they harvest from the wild. People use more species of plants than of any other organism - over 35,000 species for medicine alone. Furthermore, plants play vital roles in moderating the climate, supporting stream-flow and stabilising soils.
Yet at least 34,000 plant species out of the more than 250,000 on Earth are estimated to be under threat. Many plant resources are becoming scarcer - a well known fact of everyday life, for instance, to women in many developing countries, who must walk further and further to gather sufficient fuelwood for use in their homes.
WWF-UK
Much of WWF-UK's plant work falls under the umbrella of the People and Plants initiative, a programme that aims to build capacity for the greater involvement of communities in plant conservation.
The programme includes:- projects on conservation of medicinal plants (Nepal) and forests (Pakistan);
- development of learning systems in plant conservation, with case studies on Himalayan medicinal plants, woodcarving, and the management of plants in protected areas;
- a campaign to place the woodcarving industry in Kenya on a more sustainable basis; (for more information, visit the following)
Ecological footprint of the wooden rhino: a report on the depletion of hardwoods for the carving trade in Kenya;
Good Wood news - the campaign newsletter; - production of a wide range of printed materials and videos, as well as a website. These various media are used for presentation of approaches and methods in plant conservation, case studies and analyses targeted at conservation practitioners.
WWF-UK is also engaged in:- conservation of medicinal plants in Europe, including working as an associate on a project to determine best sourcing practices for the UK herbal industry;
- promoting the adoption of a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation under the Convention on Biodiversity.
WWF network
The WWF network runs more than 280 projects that contribute to plant conservation worldwide. Many of these are concerned with the conservation of habitats rich in plant diversity, rather than with the conservation of individual plant species. WWF-India and WWF-South Africa are among the WWF national organisations that are most involved in plant conservation. This is not surprising, given the obvious central role of plants to the livelihoods of people in India and the great concern in South Africa to protect the extremely rich and threatened flora of the Cape region. |
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Dr Alan Hamilton
Head of International Plant Conservation Team
Dr Susanne Schmitt
Plants Conservation Officer
Mrs Ros Coles
Programme Support Officer
WWF-UK
Panda House
Weyside Park
Godalming
Surrey GU7 1XR
t: 01483 426444
f: 01483 426409
e: info@wwf.org.uk |
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WWF-UK > Research > The issues we work on > Plants
