BIOPLAN POSTING 2001-5-18

Ken Creighton <ken.creighton@undp.org>
Sent by: owner-bioplan@undp.org
05/02/01 05:24 PM

bioplan
Ken Creighton <ken.creighton@undp.org>
Apologies for cross-posting...

The Plant Conservation Unit at the Smithsonian Institution is pleased to
announce a new web site: "Centres of
Plant Diversity: A Guide and Strategy for Their Conservation-Volume 3:
The Americas." Published in 1997 by the
World Wildlife Fund and The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the book
has been recreated into a user-friendly
website, available at http://www.nmnh.si.edu/botany/projects/cpd/. The
book and website were prepared under the
coordination of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Systematic
Biology - Botany. The website is part of
a three-volume work that contains accounts of nearly 250 major sites for
conservation of plant diversity
worldwide. Volume 3 deals with the Americas, and contains six sites in
North America, 20 in Middle America, 46
in South America, and three in the Caribbean. The web version of the
printed volume contains all the same
material, including tables, figures and additional pictures.

The rationale for the project is the international concern about the
rapid global loss and degradation of
natural ecosystems and the urgent need to highlight areas of pristine
botanical importance, with the hope that
these will receive adequate levels of resources to ensure their
protection. The 75 sites have been selected
partly on the basis of floristic studies, but especially with reference
to the detailed knowledge of over 100
botanists familiar with this region. Each site is set within a regional
context, outlining wider patterns of
plant distributions, threats and conservation efforts. Regional
overviews include very useful tables giving
information on species richness and endemism, floristic diversity and
endemism by region, degree of threat, and
an analysis of the conservation status of the sites.

This work is essential reading for all those concerned with planning
land use strategies for conservation and
appropriate development. It is hoped that this global assessment will be
followed by further assessments at the
local level, so that the vital tasks of conservation of plant diversity
can be well integrated in detail into
national and regional conservation and development strategies.
 

Gary Krupnick, Ph.D.
Director, Plant Conservation Unit
Department of Systematic Biology MRC-166
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20560-0166
Tel: 202-357-2027
Fax: 202-786-2563
Email: krupnick.gary@nmnh.si.edu
 
 

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