PEAR SPECIES IN THE CAUCASUS

The Caucasian countries of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are a centre of diversity of wild pear trees (Pyrus spp) and an important origin of cultivated pears. Several species are now rare and threatened, but limited information is available to fully assess their status and needs. The Global Trees Campaign has therefore been working with scientist in the region on field surveys of pear species to identify the most threatened species, where they occur and their conservation requirements.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The Caucasian countries of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are a centre of diversity of wild pear trees (Pyrus spp) and an important origin of cultivated pears. At a three-day Global Trees Campaign Caucasus Regional Tree Red Listing workshop in Tbilisi in 2005, a preliminary list of 32 globally threatened trees and shrubs of the Caucasus was identified. This included nine species of pear, but inadequate information was available to make rigorous assessments of the conservation status of these species.

The Global Trees Campaign has therefore been working with the Vasil Gulisahvili Forest Institute (VGFI) in Georgia to gather field information on selected potentially threatened pear species in the Caucasus. Professor Peter Schmidt from Dresden University in Germany has acted as an expert advisor to the project. The project is also helping to renew collaboration between scientists of the three countries, which was initiated at the tree red listing workshop but had been virtually absent since the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Coordinated surveys of seven species of pear were conducted in the three countries during 2007, led by scientists from the Institute of Botany of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Science, The Armenian State Agrarian University and Tbilisi Botanic Garden, Georgia. Standardised information on population, distribution, ecology and threats has been gathered for each species in each of the three countries. The information is now being combined to produce a regional assessment for each species, including IUCN threat categories and criteria. Conservation recommendations are being drawn up and distributed to relevant authorities in the region.

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