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A brief history of conservation at the Royal

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DOI: 10.1007/s12225-010-9231-2

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KEW BULLETIN VOL. 65: 501Y508 (2010)

A brief history of conservation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Ghillean T. Prance

Summary. When Princess Augusta and Lord Bute, followed by Sir Joseph Banks and King George III, started
gathering plants at Kew, conservation on the site can be said to have begun. Although the primary motive then was
to assist the expansion of the British Empire and trade, rare plants were gathered and some became rare or extinct
in the wild as their habitats were destroyed. The primary motive in the nineteenth century was not conservation,
but the history of conservation at the Royal Gardens at Kew dates back to its very origins. Subsequent regimes at
Kew maintained and added to the collections thereby adding to their conservation value. Many early collections
are of species now listed within the IUCN categories of endangerment. Environmental awareness and concern had
begun by the time that Professor Jack Heslop-Harrison became director and he was the first director actively to
initiate specific conservation programmes such as seed banking and work on red data books. From then on
conservation became an integral part of the work programme of Kew and the focus on conservation has increased
with each subsequent director. This eventually led to the transformation of the embryonic seed banking activities
into the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest and most important bank in the world for the conservation of the seeds
of wild species. It currently holds just over ten percent of all seed plant species. Conservation at Kew over the past
three decades has very much been a balance between ex situ work and in situ activities to help conservation in the
overseas areas where Kew scientists have experience. Throughout the history of the gardens there has been a vital
interest in economic botany that has developed from moving plants around the empire to much work on the
sustainable use of plants and ecosystems thereby better equipping the institution to subsequently work on in situ
conservation. Significant conservation activity at Kew has been possible because it is being supported by a solid
research programme that includes such areas as systematics and molecular genetics and laboratories, a large
herbarium and a large library. Kew has played an important role in stimulating conservation work elsewhere and
such units as the Threatened Plants Unit of IUCN and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) have
their roots in Kew. Among other important conservation initiatives have been the creation of a unit to work with
the implementation of the CITES treaty on the trade of endangered plants and a legal unit to work on issues of the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). There is no doubt that the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is at the
forefront of plant conservation.

Key Words. conservation, history, red data books, seed banking.

Early years vegetation was under threat even then, conservation

When Princess Augusta declared that she wanted to at Kew was well underway and has continued in this
accumulate all species of plants in her garden at Kew, way ever since to the some 50,000 taxa currently held
the long history of plant conservation at Kew began. at Kew. Turrill (1959) quotes Thiselton-Dyer about
Although it was many years before the term conserva- Princess Augusta:
tion was used, the fact that some vary rare plants were
gathered and grown at Kew meant that ex situ “She died in 1772, but in the preceding 20 years
conservation had started thanks to the association she gave Kew gardens the definitely scientific
between the Princess and John Stuart the third Earl of character which they have since retained.”
Bute and the gardening skill of William Aiton who
started working for the Princess in 1759. Aiton In the succeeding years, plant collecting for Kew
published his first edition of Hortus Kewensis in 1789 continued firstly to gather a collection of interesting
and it includes 3,500 species planted during his first plants at Kew and then, in the reign of King George III
thirty years at Kew. The second edition of the Hortus with the help of Sir Joseph Banks, to further the goals
(Aiton 1810 – 1813) was a five volume work published of the empire. During the time of Banks and later
between 1810 and 1813 and it listed 11,013 species. during the directorships of William and Joseph
Since many of these were from areas where the Hooker the primary goal was to collect and study

Accepted for publication November 2010.

1
Honorary Research Fellow, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB, UK.

© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2010

502 KEW BULLETIN VOL. 65(4)

plants of economic interest. These activities and the book, which covered the period up to the end of the
growing scientific programme at Kew that was cata- directorship of Sir George Taylor, mentions the
loguing the plants of the world in Floras, led to the establishment of work on the Red Data Book for
rapid growth of the herbarium that is now an essential plants. During the tenure of Sir George two things
tool for conservation. At the same time the living were done to initiate conservation at Kew. First was the
collections grew considerably. Perhaps some of the contracting of retired Kew botanist Ronald Melville in
plants gathered into Kew from oceanic islands became 1968 to prepare the Red Data Book for plants and
the most crucial for conservation because it is in these second was the establishment in 1968 of a Seed Unit to
places of high species endemism that species were store seeds under refrigerated conditions. The work
most threatened by habitat destruction and the on a Red Data Book for plants was suggested to Sir
introduction of alien species. Conservation at Kew George by Sir Peter Scott the founder of WWF and the
had begun, but it was not yet labelled as such. then Chairman of the Species Survival Commission
Table 1 lists a few of the rare plants that were (SSC) of IUCN. Melville began to gather data on
conserved through the early collections of Kew. From selected endangered species. This first list of 118
early days Kew was receiving plants from all over the species was issued by IUCN in 1970 and 1971 in
world from collectors such as Francis Masson. The loose-leaf folder format as Volume five of a series of
conservation of many species was enhanced by the fact Red Data Lists (Melville 1970, 1971). Melville estimated
that Kew was a generous donor of plants as well, sending even in the late 1960s that 20,000 species were
consignments to the British Colonies and European endangered. His list focussed strongly on island plants
botanical gardens and maintaining a mutually beneficial from such places as St. Helena, Hawai’i, the Canary
exchange with British nurseries and gardens. For Islands, the Seychelles and the Juan Fernandez
example in 1902 the Natal Botanic Garden presented islands.
to Kew a specimen of Encephalartos woodii Hort. which is The initial emphasis of the seed bank was much more
said to be the last surviving specimen in the world. on seed physiology and storage rather than conservation.
At the time of these activities the destruction of natural
environments began to accelerate rapidly and so the next
Embryonic Conservation Director of Kew, Professor John Heslop-Harrison was the
The publication of Turrill’s book (1959) coincided person who really began to bring conservation seriously
with the two hundredth anniversary of the Royal into the mission of the Gardens.
Botanic Gardens and it is interesting to see that just
fifty years ago there is no mention of conservation. In
fact the word conservation is not used anywhere in this The Heslop-Harrison era (1971 – 1976)
volume. A few years later King (1976) published an Professor Heslop-Harrison was Director of Kew for the
unofficial history of Kew and again conservation is relatively short period of five years, but he deserves a
hardly mentioned. The penultimate sentence of that separate section here because it was under him that

Table 1. Examples of a few plants collected for Kew in the early days that have now become valuable for conservation.

Species Family Origin Date of Kew accession IUCN Category

Agave schottii Agavaceae USA, Arizona 1921 E
Aloe squarrosa Aloaceae Yemen, Socotra 1967 E
Alsinidendron trinerve Caryophyllaceae Hawai’i 1961 CE
Cestrum psittacinum Solanaceae Possibly Mexico
Dioon spinulosum Zamiaceae Mexico 1907 R
Echinocactus grusonii Cactaceae Mexico 1930 E
Encephalartos woodii Cycadaceae South Africa 1899 EXT
Erica verticillata Ericaceae South Africa, Cape 1961 EXT
Eucommia ulmoides Eucommiaceae China 1930 R
Euphorbia decaryi Euphorbiaceae Madagascar 1959 E
Hibiscus clayi Malvaceae Hawai’i 1961 E
Laelia anceps Orchidaceae Mexico 1922, 1941 E
Metrosideros carminea Myrtaceae New Zealand N.I. 1965 E
Paphiopedilum rothschildianum Orchidaceae Malaysia, Sabah 1963 E
Sophora toromiro Fabaceae Easter Island V
a
Tecophilaea cyanocrocus Tecophilaeaceae Chile 1972 EXT
Tulipa sprengeri Liliaceae Turkey EXT
a
Listed and thought to be extinct, but recently found again in the wild

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF CONSERVATION AT THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 503

conservation became a serious part of the mission of alternative non-commercial homes for them. One of the
the Gardens. He inherited an embryonic Red Data first batches to be seized was a large quantity of
Book, but was aware that much more needed to be cyclamens entering through the port of Dover.
done. On 10th August 1973 a meeting was held at Kew, These were eventually distributed to several
convened by the SSC Alert Group of IUCN. It was National Trust gardens around the country. Today
agreed there that an SSC specialist committee on this sort of work continues, for example, the CITES
threatened plants was required. Accordingly the SSC unit advises the newly independent country of
created the Threatened Plants Committee at its full Georgia how to handle its export of snowdrops.
meeting on 21 – 22 May 1974 with Gren Lucas as Training has always been an important part of the
Secretary and Hugh Synge as its Research Assistant. CITES work and Kew has trained over 450 CITES
This unit was based in the herbarium at Kew, but was enforcement officers from the UK and abroad
an integral part of IUCN and was also funded by the including many customs and police officers.
World Wildlife Fund. Its initial remit was to produce Gren Lucas became the chair of the Species
Red Data Books and to maintain databases. The Survival Commission of IUCN in 1980 and it set up
IUCN/WWF staff and Kew staff were managed as TRAFFIC, a unit that was funded by WWF to be an
one unit by Gren Lucas. Lucas & Synge (1978) independent body to work behind the scenes on trade
published the first hard-bound Red Data Book for of organisms. Its initial focus was on the trade of
plants containing data on 250 carefully selected primates and orchids. TRAFFIC monitors the move-
sample species of threatened and endangered plants ment of wildlife and wildlife products around the
from the Melville list. In 1973 the Threatened Plants world and discloses infractions when necessary.
Unit (TPU) as it was now called, received a challenge In 1979 the Foreign Office gave funds to Kew to
from Dr Max Walters, then Director of the University work on the conservation of plants in the UK
of Cambridge Botanic Garden, to prepare a list of Dependent Territories. Heslop-Harrison also helped
threatened plants of Europe to accompany Flora to stimulate the first conservation meeting with
Europaea of which he was an editor. In 1975 the TPU which Kew was involved. This was sponsored by
received funds from the Council of Europe to prepare NATO’s Eco-Sciences Panel and was held at Kew
the list of threatened species of Europe. This book, from 2 – 6 September 1975 on the topic ‘The
which went through three drafts, listed 2,100 species function of living plant collections in conservation and in
and used the taxonomy of Flora Europaea as a basis conservation oriented research and public education.’ The
(IUCN Threatened Plants Committee 1977). Gren proceedings of this conference were published in the
Lucas chose the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of first of a NATO conference series on ecology (Simmons
Biological Conservation to work on the listing of plants et al. 1976). The excellent conference resolutions were
for the Caribbean and Latin America. The work on widely distributed.
plant listing has progressed far since these early days The work of Yolande Heslop-Harrison on breeding
and today Kew coordinates the GIS-based plant systems of plants was also a good support to the new
component of the IUCN Sampled Red List Index. focus on conservation brought to Kew by her husband.
In 1973 Duncan Poore, the Director of The Nature An important contribution to conservation at Kew
Conservancy, approached Heslop-Harrison to enquire was the acquisition of Wakehurst Place in Sussex in
what plants were likely to be traded commercially 1965. This 500 acre property already contained an
because the CITES convention was then being drafted. important collection of trees, but also had areas of
It had been in the making for a number of years and natural woodland of the Sussex Weald. This was
was endorsed by the 1972 Stockholm United Nations officially dedicated as the Loder valley Reserve in
Conference on the Human Environment. Kew was 1980 when it was opened as such by Sir Giles Loder
asked to provide a list of plants for the initial meeting of with the enthusiastic support of Tony Schilling who
CITES in Washington, DC in January 1973. One of the was head of Wakehurst at that time. Plans for nature
contentious issues at that conference was whether plants trails and use of the reserve were worked on enthusi-
should be included at all under the Convention. It was astically by Harry Townsend. This was put into a
Gren Lucas who co-ordinated the production of a conservation and management plan for the reserve
document on traded plants for The Nature Conservancy by John Lonsdale who was working at Wakehurst at
to take to the meeting and fortunately plants were that time. The newly named Francis Rose Reserve at
incorporated into the Convention. Appropriately Lucas Wakehurst is one of the first in the UK dedicated to
represented Kew at the launch of the CITES convention. the conservation of cryptogams. The Conservation
As a result of early participation and leadership Kew was mission of Wakehurst was affirmed early by the trans-
designated as the UK Scientific Authority of CITES for fer of the seed physiology and seed bank there in 1973
plants, an activity that continues today under the under the leadership of Peter Thomson. Another
leadership of Noel McGough. This has meant that Kew important development for conservation under
receives and holds many confiscated plants or finds Heslop-Harrison was the establishment of a micro-

© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2010

504 KEW BULLETIN VOL. 65(4)

propagation unit in 1974. This has enabled the resources between conservation activities and more
propagation of some of the rarest plants that are in traditional work, but the progress that has followed in
need of conservation. both areas has shown that this has worked out well.
Under the Brenan directorship the TPU grew
considerably. In 1979 the Foreign Office gave funds
Conservation continues to gain momentum to Kew to work on the conservation of plants in the
It is certainly true to say that conservation really UK Dependent Territories. At that time Sara Oldfield
became part of the daily mission of Kew under the was appointed to the staff to oversee this activity and
directorship of Professor Heslop-Harrison. It has not also to be involved in Kew’s participation in CITES.
looked back since and subsequent Directors have each Christine Leon joined as TPC Research assistant for
increased the emphasis on conservation as the Europe in March 1980, Charlie Jarvis as African
destruction of habitats and the loss of species has also specialist in April 1980 and Stephen Davis as Asian
increased rapidly. The earlier conservation conference specialist in September 1981. This small and active unit
was followed up under the directorship of Patrick and the Botanic gardens Conservation Co-ordinating
Brenan (1976 – 1981) with an important conference Body eventually evolved into an independent organisa-
on: ‘The practical role of botanic gardens in the conservation tion, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, that is
of rare and threatened plants,’ (Published as Survival or so active today in promoting conservation through
Extinction, Synge & Townsend 1979) that took place botanic gardens. This idea originated from a botanic
from 11 – 17 September 1978. The movers behind this gardens conference held in November 1985 at Las
conference were especially Curator, John Simmons Palmas, Canary Islands, on how botanic gardens could
and Ian Beyer who both wanted to increase science in contribute to implementing the recently drafted World
the living collections and saw conservation as a way of Conservation Strategy (Bramwell et al. 1986). A botanic
achieving this. One of the spin-offs from this confer- gardens strategy was prepared by Professor Vernon
ence was the establishment in 1979 of a Botanical Heywood and approved at this conference. In January
Gardens Conservation Co-ordinating Body. This was 1986, after a meeting with IUCN in Gland, the Botanic
set up as a membership organisation for botanic Gardens Conservation Secretariat was set up and it
gardens world-wide to assist with their conservation began work under the directorship of Professor
activities and this was initially led by Ian Beyer. The Heywood, on the first of January 1987 and was located
initial thrust was to prepare and circulate lists of at Kew. This unit eventually developed into the
threatened species that were cultivated in the gardens. independent NGO, Botanic Gardens Conservation
As a result of this growing momentum in conserva- International (BGCI), which is still housed on Kew
tion some dynamic young staff with a passion for property and is now directed by Sara Oldfield. Much of
conservation were engaged by the living collections its current success is due to the efforts of its first two
department such as Mike Fay, Andrew Jackson and directors Vernon Heywood and Peter Wyse-Jackson who
Michael Maunder. The appointment of Fay reinforced built up this network of botanic gardens into a force for
the use of the micropropagation unit for conservation conservation and conservation education. The TPC
rather that solely for propagation. He was brought in moved from Kew to Cambridge to join an animal unit
to run a service unit for propagation, but because of to found the World Conservation Monitoring Centre
his background in genetics and crop breeding he soon (WCMC), but it appears that plants did not keep up the
began to work on rare plants and their conservation same momentum there and so the work of BGCI and of
and reintroduction. Fay quickly progressed his career Kew are ever more important.
to take on an important role in conservation genetics Under Kew’s directorship of Arthur Bell (1981 – 1988),
in the molecular section of the Jodrell Laboratory. His orchid conservation gained momentum when the Sains-
current work uses genetic information to make con- bury Orchid Conservation Project was established funded
servation decisions and is closely linked with the by Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury and directed by Joyce
programmes of Natural England. Pioneer work on Stewart. A key to the success of this unit was the
fingerprinting Cypripedium calceolus L. and Orchis appointment of Mark Clements from Australia who
militaris L. have been flagships of this work. Michael brought with him the techniques for germinating orchid
Maunder helped to make many connections for seed with their mycorrhizae. The orchid unit depended
conservation with other organisations at home and heavily on the micropropagation facility for its success
abroad. For example this led to some collaboration and it was endowed by the Sainsburys in 1989. One of its
with London Zoo on the conservation of Partulid several successes has been the re-establishment of
snails. Maunder made many overseas contacts espe- Cypripedium calceolus L. in its native habitat in northern
cially with UK overseas territories and this led to England. Also in 1989 the first full time seed collector
repatriation work in such places as Saint Helena. The was appointed to the Seed Bank, indicating an increased
increased focus on conservation in LCD inevitably led awareness of the importance of this activity. It was
to some disputes about the division of financial Roger Smith who changed the focus of the seed

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF CONSERVATION AT THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 505

bank from a more traditional seed research unit origin at least half of any benefits arising from plant
and seed collection for Kew into a seed bank for the screening agreements. In 1994 I asked environ-
conservation of rare species. mental lawyer Kerry ten Kate to conduct a con-
sultancy to review the implications for Kew of the
CBD. This made it obvious that it was in our own
The Millennium Seed Bank interests to be directly involved with the CBD and
When the UK government announced that a fund the development of policies that could affect our
would be established to celebrate the 2000 millennium work around the world. Accordingly a CBD officer
and that it would include ten large ‘landmark’ post was created at Kew in 1996 and ten Kate filled
projects, I and other senior management at Kew this position. This unit continues its important work
decided that Kew should try to bid for one of these. today with China Williams and Madeleine Groves.
We solicited ideas from staff about what project we An important product from the CBD unit that I still
should put forward, and several suggestions were consult frequently was the report prepared for the
made from different parts of the Gardens. One European Commission on the commercial use and
proposal stood out as truly millennial and that was benefit-sharing of biodiversity (ten Kate & Laird
the suggestion from Roger Smith, the head of the 1999).
small seed banking section at Wakehurst Place. His It is the work of this CBD unit, Botanical Garden
idea was vastly to expand our seed banking and seed Conservation International and of the scientists at
research activities and to call it the Millennium Seed Kew that enabled Kew and other similar organisa-
Bank. Soon, with Trustee approval, a proposal to the tions to play such an important role in the develop-
Millennium Commission of the lottery was drafted and ment of the 2002 Global Strategy for Plant
the search for other funding was initiated because we Conservation (GSPC). This vital document is the
knew that the lottery rules only provided half of the first target-driven strategy to be developed under
funding for their projects. The Millennium Seed Bank the CBD. Today Kew is working on several of the
which cost £85 million to set up, owes it existence to targets and was invited to be the facilitating
the hard work of Giles Coode Adams who was Director organisation for target one of the GSPC which is
of the Kew Foundation at that time and to Sir Jeffrey to produce a widely accessible working list of known
Bowman who was the lead trustee involved. It was their plant species. The 2003 conference together with
contacts and hard work that got counterpart funding Plantlife International and the Joint Nature Con-
from bodies such as the Welcome Trust and the servation Committee was held at Kew and led to the
Orange Company. Deputy Director John Lavin official UK response to the GSPC. A 2006 joint
handled a lot of the administration that was needed meeting at Kew followed this up to assess the
to establish the project. The ambitious goals were soon progress against the targets of the GSPC.
set to collect and bank seeds of the entire British Flora
by 2000 and ten percent of the world flora by 2010.
The project included funds for construction of the Economic Botany and Conservation
building that now houses the seed bank and funds for Economic botany has been an emphasis at Kew since
both collection and research on seed banking meth- the early days when Sir Joseph Banks was assisting the
ods and seed physiology. More on the seed bank is Empire by moving plants around the world. There
covered elsewhere in this symposium, but I wanted to have been positive and negatives in this activity, but
give some details of the foundation of this important there is no doubt that the information, collections and
part of conservation at Kew and to acknowledge the expertise gained through these activities have now
good work of some of the people involved. The entire become important for conservation and the sustain-
staff of the original seed banking section were able use of plant resources. The gradual change
obviously intimately involved in setting up the project. from enhancing the finances of an empire to using
It is at this conference that we celebrate the achieve- economic botany to promote sustainability is part
ment of reaching the ten percent goal of the of the history of Kew. One of the most useful tools
Millennium Seed Bank. for the change was the establishment in 1981 by
Gerald Wickens of the SEPASAL data base (Survey
of Economic Plants of Arid and Semi-arid Lands).
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) This focus on arid lands eventually led to Kew’s
One of the most significant contributions to conserva- participation in the Plants of the Northeast Programme
tion through Kew has been its active participation in in Brazil. This bi-national project emphasising the use of
the CBD process. At Kew this started in 1992, the same local plants for local people has done much to stimulate
year as the Convention was drafted, when we intro- interest in sustainable use of the plants of northeast
duced the first benefit-sharing policy. This short Brazil. It was made possible by an initial grant of a
document committed us to share with countries of million pounds from the Weston Family Foundation.

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506 KEW BULLETIN VOL. 65(4)

This lead to many other sources of funding for the work on firewood plantations in Zimbabwe and in
project. Brazil, begun by David Cutler and continued by Peter
Gasson. Michael Maunder and others were involved in
a conservation programme for the Island of Saint
Conservation Overseas Helena in the south Atlantic and since the arrival of
As conservation work increased at Kew so did the Colin Clubbe this has led to a much greater involve-
involvement of its staff abroad as mentioned above for ment with other UK Overseas Territories such as the
northeastern Brazil. Some of these are listed in Table 2 British Virgin Islands, Montserrat and other Caribbean
and a few are mentioned below. Kew’s ability to territories. The work of the Seed Bank in the UK
become active in conservation in so many places was Overseas Territories is also contributing to their
because of its long history of scientific collaboration conservation efforts. The Darwin Initiative, which
and training with institutions all over the world. Africa resulted from the Earth summit held in Rio de Janeiro
had long been a focus of Kew’s scientific work and a in 1992, has been a vital supporter for this overseas
good example of transferring this to conservation was work.
in the 1980s through the help given to the Limbe Another long-term relationship has been with
Botanic Garden in Cameroon. The project was set up the Trivandrum Botanic Garden in Kerala, India.
and run by Mark Bovey who relocated from Wakehurst Kew has trained many of the Trivandrum staff,
Place to Cameroon. It involved both the restoration of many Kew staff have visited there, and this botanic
the old colonial botanic garden and the conservation garden has become a leader in conservation for
of the forests of Cameroon. Herbarium botanists southern India.
Roger Polhill and Nigel Hepper gave much assistance The book entitled Plant Conservation in the Tropics:
to the Limbe project in its early days. More recently Perspectives and Practice (Maunder et al. 2002), brought
Martin Cheek has been much involved with the together much of the information gathered by these
botanical inventory that led to the creation of the overseas efforts. Madagascan conservation has been
Kupe-Muanenguba National Park in Cameroon. John greatly stimulated by the work of Justin Moat using
Dransfield, palm specialist from the herbarium was GIS methods to map the vegetation (Moat & Smith
involved in the conservation and sustainable use of the 2007). This bilingual work, in cooperation with twenty
rattans palms in Borneo. This project, in collaboration Malagasy and international organisations, mapped
with the Commonwealth Development Corporation, protected areas, climate, vegetation and geology. Since
has helped to prevent the over-exploitation of this only 18 percent of the vegetation of Madagascar
valuable resource. The wood anatomy team in the remains intact, this sort of work is vital for the
Jodrell Laboratory has made its contribution with the conservation of the remainder.

Table 2. Some Overseas Conservation Projects of RBG Kew. Conservation Education

Undoubtedly conservation education has been one
Country Project of the most important contributions of Kew to the
Argentina Conservation education for primary field of conservation. Many people from many
school teachers nations have studied at the Seed Bank or taken
Brazil Plants of the Northeast, local plants for the Plant Conservation Techniques courses which
local people began to operate in 1993 with the first nine
Brazil Extractivism and habitat restoration in
Mato Grosso State participants. The first conservation techniques
Cameroon Restoration of Limbe Botanic Garden course was coordinated by Michael Maunder and
and rainforest conservation, Kupe- since then eight more have been run with a total of
Muanenguba National Park
India Staff training and conservation for
84 participants from 45 countries. Also a number of
Trivandrum Botanic Garden regional courses have been run in key countries.
Kenya Wild harvest project with National The international diploma course in Plant Conser-
Museums of Kenya vation Strategies and Botanic Garden Education is
Madagascar Identification of key areas for
conservation using GIS always over-subscribed. Conservation is an integral
Malaysia, Sarawak Sustainable use of rattans for cane part of the Kew Diploma in Horticulture and of all
Peru Habitat restoration and sustainable use of its MSc and Ph.D. programmes. These courses are
dry forest.
helping to build conservation capacity in many parts
St Helena Rescue and conservation of rare endemic
flora of the world. So far 377 participants from 103
UK Overseas Conservation work in Montserrat, British countries have participated in Kew’s training
Territories Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos and courses and the Seed bank has trained 1400 people
other overseas territories
from more than fifty countries.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF CONSERVATION AT THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 507

Scientific Research, the Underpinning Conclusions

of Conservation at Kew What an impressive history! Building on its long
Kew has been a major contributor to conservation history the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is now
mainly because of its excellence in scientific research. recognised as one of the leading centres for advice
It is the long history of research in taxonomy, and action on plant and fungal conservation. I am
economic botany, cytology and more recently molec- delighted to see the increased emphasis on conserva-
ular genetics and systematics that has equipped the tion that is occurring under the leadership of Stephen
institution to provide so much of the scientific data Hopper as Director. Given the continued destruction
that are essential for meaningful conservation. With- of habitat and the loss of species there is no doubt that
out this basic research effort and all the data that it the fight to preserve the environment must continue
provides little could have been done. It is vital that this and indeed accelerate. It is good that Kew is now
sort of work continues in order to underpin future making statements about climate change since it has
work in conservation and sustainable use of plants. An the data to convince the world that greater action is
indication of the link between taxonomy and con- needed. All conservation efforts will be in vain if we do
servation is that all monographs produced by Kew are not stabilise the climate. I urge the current staff of Kew
now required to indicate the IUCN conservation to be active both in providing the scientific data to
category for all species included. Without data on the convince the world and in spreading the message to a
identification and distribution of species it would be wider audience through all of your educational
impossible to assess the levels of threat to species and activities.
it is the work of the taxonomists in the herbarium that Now we have looked back at the past I hope that we
provides these types of data. The development of the will look to the future for the rest of this conference.
CITES expertise at Kew has hinged on the science and The loss of species continues at an alarming rate and
library resources, particularly for such groups as so we must now concentrate on the solutions, both
orchids, succulents and bulbs. Several Kew staff are scientific and political. The world faces decision time
active members of IUCN specialist groups that assess as it attempts to address the issues of climate change.
the status of rare plants. All this work on conservation could be in vain of we do
An historic tool that is so useful to conservation is not rapidly do something to halt climate change that is
the Index Kewensis that was established from funds changing habitats and causing further loss of species.
made available from the will of Charles Darwin. More
recently this has evolved into the International Plant
Names Index (IPNI, www.ipni.org).
Acknowledgements
I am grateful for the information provided to me in
interviews by Colin Clubbe, Michael Fay, Madeline
Practising Conservation at home
Groves, John Lonsdale, Prof. Gren Lucas, Noel
As scientific work on conservation has increased at
McGough, Sara Oldfield, and China Williams, also to
Kew there has also been an increasing and important
Nigel Taylor, Noelia Alvarez and Jose Carlos Rodriguez
emphasis of setting the example at home. This has led
for information about the living collections at Kew and
to such things as better conservation of resources,
to Andrew McRobb for providing me with some
recycling, better composting facilities, giving up the
photographs for the conference presentation.
use of peat as a growing medium, integrated pest
management, waste management, solar parking
meters and interpretation panels and best practise in
the use of timber in the Buildings and Maintenance References
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508 KEW BULLETIN VOL. 65(4)

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© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2010