Georgina Magin, Fauna & Flora International’s Global Trees Campaign manager, writes about her recent trip to visit some of Madagascar’s most charismatic flora. After driving through the eroded highlands of central Madagascar, we descend to the western plain and see the first Grandidier’s baobabs (known locally as Renala) towering like skyscrapers over the fields and…
FFI’s Global Trees Campaign Programme Officer, David Gill, makes a case to increase support for the world’s Critically Endangered tree species When challenged to make a case for tree conservation, it can be all too easy to count on some well used facts and figures. To set the scene I could refer to the 100,000…
Surveys carried out by Center for Plant Conservation Vietnam (CPCV) have identified new populations of a number of threatened species including the Critically Endangered Magnolia grandis. The new findings come after over two weeks of fieldwork in forests surrounding the villages of Phieng Luong and Phieng Phoc in northern Vietnam. Among a number of new…
The conservation of Asia’s threatened trees will be highlighted at the 3rd Regional Conference for the Society of Conservation Biology – Asia section. During one of the world’s largest conservation conferences (see SCB Asia 2014), a symposium dedicated to the conservation of Asia’s threatened tree species will take place on Thursday August 21st 2014, in Melaka,…
Conservationists have joined forces with local communities to plant 10,000 trees from threatened species into community forests near Mt. Cameroon. In a bid to enhance the conservation of several threatened tree species present in the Mt. Cameroon area, project staff from the Cameroonian NGO, ERuDeF (Environment and Rural Development Foundation) collaborated with members from local…
Robin Loveridge, Global Trees Campaign’s Programme Officer at Fauna & Flora International, goes apple hunting and looking for new solutions to an old problem in nature’s Eden in Central Asia, where apples first evolved. From the relative lowlands of Bishkek we spiralled upwards towards a high mountain pass, breaking the snow line. With a population only…
A Global Survey of Ex situ Conifer Collections has analysed how well represented threatened conifers are in botanic garden and arboreta collections around the world and highlights priority taxa for conservation action. A global reassessment of the conservation status of the world’s conifers was undertaken and up-to-date assessments published on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in July…
The IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group is working towards developing a Global Tree Conservation Assessment by 2020 – an up-to-date assessment of the conservation status of the world’s tree species. In this blog post we provide an update of the latest additions to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and welcome a new recruit…
Marian Lechner, a PhD student from Tübingen, Germany, blogs on his volunteering experience with the Global Trees Campaign’s partner in Brazil, Sociedade Chauá. It all started when I contacted Georgina Magin and David Gill at Fauna & Flora International (FFI) to ask about volunteering opportunities at one of FFI’s Global Trees Campaign projects in South…
26th April 2014 was Union Day in Tanzania, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania. A ceremonial tree planting took place as part of the celebrations and President Kikwete planted a young Erythrina schliebenii tree, perhaps the most threatened tree species in Tanzania. Lake Latumba Coral Tree, Erythrina…
The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh (RBGE, Scotland) has developed a novel approach to tree conservation: incorporating historic and threatened trees in a “Heritage Hedge”. The hedge includes material cultivated from the oldest Yew trees in the UK (Taxus baccata) and trees cultivated from seed collected from threatened Taxus species around the world. It will provide a valuable…
During a recent visit to Ethiopia, Global Trees Campaign staff encountered many amazing trees and identified exciting opportunities for tree conservation efforts. With growing momentum in the country for botanic garden development, the Global Trees Campaign is working with partners in Ethiopia to develop projects to save the country’s threatened trees from extinction. Situated in…