With technology developing so rapidly, will the function of plants be replaced? How do botanical gardens cope with climate change? Recently, a forum titled, “New Missions for Botanical Gardens in Anthropocene”, was held at Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, in which curators of botanical gardens from China, the United States and Australia delivered keynote speeches on the subject and shared new methods for species conservation and botanical garden management. At the forum, a cooperation deal was signed between the Chinese Union of Botanical Gardens and Botanic Gardens Conservation International.

Peter Wyse Jackson, curator of the Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG), explained that there are more than 17,000 species of plants in MBG. In order to better conserve these plants, they have built an online database to track and record these species. Additionally, in 2012, the botanical garden built a seed bank to preserve genetic diversity and equipped the garden with solar and water circulation devices to realize sustainable development.

In addition to the measures mentioned above, MBG has set up dozens of conservation bases in the Republic of Madagascar. Peter explained, “Madagascar has a variety of local species, but due to poverty, local people are unable to conserve these species.” As such, MBG cooperated with local communities to build schools in an attempt to conserve and help local children learn more about plants.

Jin Chen, curator of Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, shared similar views in his speech. Two systems are needed to help the work of botanical gardens in conservation and sustainable development.  (Zhang Yu)