The 5th Global Botanic Gardens Congress (5GBGC) organised by BGCI, a lead partner of the Global Trees Campaign, was held in Dunedin, New Zealand, from October 20th – 25th 2013. Bringing together over 300 delegates from 43 countries, the congress was hailed a great success. Tree conservation was high on the agenda of items to…
The iconic baobabs of Madagascar symbolise the island’s unique wildlife as much as its lemurs. The magnificent Grandidier’s baobab (known locally as Renala) is the best-known species, but also one of the most threatened. This week saw a milestone in conservation of the Renala, with the granting of management rights for 6,453 hectares of forest hosting 400…
ERuDeF’s Asa’a Lemawah, Mount Cameroon Project Coordinator, blogs on the deteriorating status of the African zebrawood, one of Cameroon’s rarest trees. On the foothills of Mount Cameroon, there is an increasing risk that the globally threatened tree species, Microberlinia bisulcata, will become extinct from the Mokoko Forest Reserve. The species, commonly referred to as Zebrawood or Tigerwood,…
In the latest instalment of the Global Trees Campaign blog series on remarkable trees, Tom Christian of the iCONic project writes about a recent experience collecting seeds from the Chilean plum yew with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The great paradox of my job is that we journey to some of the most beautiful places…
Robin Loveridge describes a spectacular dipterocarp in the latest instalment of the Global Trees Campaign’s ‘Remarkable Trees’ blog series. Like two whirling gyroscopes, a pair of gibbons circled the huge emergent tree. With reckless power and precision, the pair made gravity defying swings in smooth, graceful arcs, as they flew around the tree in faster and faster orbits.…
Fauna & Flora International and Belizean partner Ya’axché Conservation Trust have commended a CITES decision to strengthen protection for tropical hardwoods, write Gail Stott and David Gill. Valuable but highly threatened rosewoods and ebonies have a more secure future after a historic decision at the recent CITES meeting in Bangkok. These trees produce stunning timber that is…
The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh (RBGE), the Rhododendron Species Conservation Group and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) jointly hosted a two-day conference with the aim to develop a coordinated action plan to save threatened Rhododendron species from extinction in the wild. The Red List of Rhododendrons published in 2011, showed that a quarter of the…
In the latest instalment of the Global Trees Campaign’s ‘Remarkable Trees’ blog series, Fauna & Flora International’s David Gill describes his encounter with the African Zebrawood from Cameroon. Mount Cameroon provides an impressive setting for meeting a remarkable tree. The highest mountain in Central Africa, it also holds the title of being the region’s most active volcano.…
The Hollick’s Birch or “Grey Bark Birch” is one of Jamaica’s rarest endemic trees in the family Burseraceae (Frankincense and Myrrh). Andreas Oberli and local students from Jamaica recently set out to survey the last remaining populations of the species. Their surveys, undertaken on Portland Ridge on the south coast, led to the discovery of…
To help raise awareness of the world’s threatened trees, we are publishing a ‘Remarkable Trees’ series of blogs covering tales of some of our favourite arboreal species. Here, David Gill (Fauna & Flora International’s Programme Officer for the Global Trees Campaign) plants the seed… Four years ago, after finishing a spell abroad in Paraguay, my own fascination…
In terms of botanical diversity, the cloud forests of Mexico are exceptionally rich, with over 2,800 plant species recorded within them, 25% of which are trees. However, a new Red List of these trees has revealed that 60% are threatened with extinction. The cloud forests of Mexico are mostly found on steep slopes and protected…
A new outdoor exhibit at The Morton Arboretum shows that trees that we know and love are endangered in the wild. Produced in partnership with the Global Trees Campaign, the exhibit highlights that by protecting these trees, we help ourselves and the entire planet. The exhibit explores the uses of and threats to a number…