A South African National Strategy for Plant Conservation

As a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity, South Africa is required to develop a
National Strategy for Plant Conservation (NSPC) that will be aligned with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). The GSPC was adopted by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2002, and revised for a further 10 years (2011-2020) in 2010. It consists of 16 targets for conserving plants.



For more information on the GSPC see www.plants2020.net.

In South Africa with our highly diverse floras, and the fact that our conservation goals need to compete with other government priorities for social and economic development, the GSPC global targets are not all relevant to us. Additionally, South African plant conservation does not take place in isolation but is rather integrated into general biodiversity conservation work. It is for these reasons that procedures are underway to develop achievable targets for South Africa within the framework provided by the global strategy. There is a need for a truly South African National Strategy for Plant Conservation.

In October 2013 the Global Plant Conservation Partnership will meet to evaluate progress being made by countries with the strategy. It would be ideal to have South Africa’s strategy complete and ready for this meeting. Individuals and institutions, including BotSoc and SANBI, have been assigned to take responsibility for working to develop each target and our National Strategy for Plant Conservation is slowly but surely coming together.