To help raise awareness of the plight currently facing the world’s tree species, the GTC organised a suite of tree conservation talks on Tree Tuesday of BGCI’s Sixth Global Botanic Garden Congress to place threatened trees firmly in the limelight. Here Yvette Harvey-Brown reports on the major discussion points of Tree Tuesday. BGCI’s Sixth Global Botanic Garden Congress (6GBGC) was hosted by the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la…
The year 2017 marked another year huge leap forward for Global Trees Campaign (GTC) and our partners. As we make plans for another exciting year ahead, we reflect upon our achievements in 2017. Here we share a taste of some of our proudest moments; from high-level policy impacts, to grassroots people power, making a real difference to tree populations. A World first For the first time in 2017 we answered the question ‘how many tree species are…
Q: What is the Global Trees Campaign? A: The Global Trees Campaign exists to save the world’s threatened tree species and their habitats through conservation action, capacity development and by influencing and inspiring action from other groups to conserve threatened trees. Q: Who is the Global Trees Campaign? A: The Global Trees Campaign is a partnership between Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and Botanic Gardens Conservation…
It’s Christmas time! Which means Christmas trees, and this year there are a variety of options for an eco-friendly Christmas tree from organic trees to rent-a-tree. Across much of the world, trees are an important part of the festive Christmas season from the conifers decorated with baubles and tinsel to the halls decked with holly! Most environmentally conscious merrymakers will be thinking about the best way to have a green Christmas. Luckily…
Being the only international programme conserving threatened tree species in the wild, is as much a challenge, as a ‘Unique Selling Point’ (USP) for GTC. In this blog, Victoria Price explores how GTC is working to overcome this by helping others to champion the cause, and save threatened tree species in the wild. Of the 60,000 trees known to exist, over 9,600 are threatened with extinction. This means 9,600 species across the globe would…
Currently, we only know the threat status of one third of all tree species, meaning many species in need of conservation are being ignored and left on the path to extinction. Here Megan Barstow and Malin Rivers discuss how the Global Trees Campaign is helping to tackle this issue through an exciting and challenging global initiative. The Start Line The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the most comprehensive source for global…
A giant of the tree world, the Chinese Coffin tree is a conifer that can grow to 50m high and 3 metres across with large, buttress roots. Native to eastern Asia, it grows in the mountains of central Taiwan, mainland China (Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan provinces); Myanmar and Vietnam. Like other conifers, it has needle-like leaves but, after it reaches an age of over 100 years, these leaves undergo a gradual transition, eventually turning…
Every year, on International Women’s Day, we celebrate the achievements made by women globally. We caught up with eight women from around the world working tirelessly with the Global Trees Campaign (GTC) to find out more about what motivates them to conserve threatened trees and what they believe is most important to ensure these species persist and thrive in the future. 1. What inspired you to begin working to conserve threatened trees?…
Why this species? Conifers are an extremely ancient and important collection of organisms – the world’s tallest, largest and oldest living beings are all conifers. Taiwania cryptomerioides is the only species in the genus Taiwania. Commonly named the Chinese Coffin tree, Taiwania is found in mountainous areas of Eastern Asia, including China, Myanmar and Vietnam. Growing up to 55 meters high, this giant has a light and pleasantly spiced…
In a new report published today, the State of the World’s Trees shows that 30% of all tree species – more than 17,500 species – are threatened with extinction. That is more than double the total number of globally threatened mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. Individual tree species play numerous economic, ecological and cultural roles, and contribute to healthy, resilient ecosystems, which are so vital in addressing the huge…
As the Global Trees Campaign publishes a series of practical guidelines for tree conservation, Fauna & Flora International’s Dave Gill explains why we need to make these techniques more accessible to the wider conservation community. The world’s tree species are in urgent need of assistance. With more than 9,000 species sliding towards extinction, there is an ever growing need to take action to halt or abate the decline of wild populations….
Fauna & Flora International’s David Gill describes his recent visit to the USA, and the opportunity for new global partnerships for threatened tree conservation. I arrived in the United States at a perfect time of year to see, celebrate and promote conservation of threatened trees. Spring had sprung and Washington D.C.’s cherry trees had decorated the capital with candy floss pink blossom. My drive out of D.C., with FFI’s Executive…