Parties have improved financial, human, scientific, technical and technological capacity to implement the Convention.
Target 11.1
New and additional financial resources are transferred to developing country Parties, to allow for the effective implementation of their commitments under the Convention, in accordance with Article 20
I) National target: Has a national target been established corresponding to the global target above?
II) National targets for specific programmes of work: If such national target(s) ha(s)(ve) been
established, please indicate here, and give further details in the box(es).
IV) Please provide information on current status and trends in relation to this target.
V) Please provide information on indicators used in relation to this target.
VI) Please provide information on challenges in implementation of this target.
VII) Please provide any other relevant information.
Target 11.2
Technology is transferred to developing country Parties, to allow for the effective implementation of their commitments under the
Convention, in accordance with its Article 20, paragraph 4
I) National target: Has a national target been established corresponding to the global target above?
No
x
Yes, the same as the global target
Yes, one or more specific national targets have been established
Please provide details below.
See Text in Box IV
II) National targets for specific programmes of work: If such national target(s) ha(s)(ve) been
established, please indicate here, and give further details in the box(es).
Programme of work
Yes
No
Details
Agricultural
x
Inland water
x
Marine and coastal
x
Dry and subhumid land
x
Forest
x
Mountain
x
III) Has the global or national target been incorporated into relevant plans, programmes and
strategies?
No
x
Yes, into national biodiversity strategy and action plan
Yes, into sectoral strategies, plans and programmes
Please provide details below.
IV) Please provide information on current status and trends in relation to this target.
V) Please provide information on indicators used in relation to this target.
VI) Please provide information on challenges in implementation of this target.
VII) Please provide any other relevant information.
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC)
The Conference of the Parties, in decision VI/9, annex, adopted the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Parties and Governments are invited to develop their own targets with this flexible framework. The Conference of the Parties considered the Strategy as a pilot approach for the use of outcome oriented targets under the Convention. In decision VII/10, the Conference of the Parties decided to integrate the targets into the reporting framework for the Third National Reports. Please provide relevant information by responding to the questions and requests contained in the following tables.
Target 1. A widely accessible working list of known plant species, as a step towards a complete world flora.
I) Has your country established national target corresponding to the above global target?
a) Yes
x
b) No
Please specify
See Plant Diversity Challenge: The UK’s response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/
II) Has your country incorporated the above global or national target into relevant plans, programmes and strategies?
a) Yes
b) No
x
Please specify
III) Current status (please indicate current status related to this target)
The known list of plants in the UK is relatively complete with accepted checklists for vascular plants, bryophytes, and algae. Work is also underway for certain fungus groups, with lichenised fungi and Myxomycetes complete. Access to all checklists is being provided by the National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary Project.
IV) Measures taken to achieve target (please indicate activities, legislative measures and other steps taken with a view to achieve the target)
The Botanical Society of the British Isles, British Bryological Society, British Lichen Society, British Phycological Society, British Mycological Society and Association of British Fungus Groups have continued to maintain and develop checklists for their taxonomic groups.
The NBN Species Dictionary has been developed and provides access to checklists via their website and a CD. http://nbn.nhm.ac.uk/nhm/index.html
The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) part funded with the other Agencies a project at Kew to update the checklist of basidiomycetes last issued in the early 1960’s. The checklist will be published by Kew later this year.
CCW and the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh have worked together on a complete new conservation evaluation of British lichens. The report has been published by the British Lichen Society. It includes an assessment of the international importance of British populations of lichens. CCW also maintain a database of site information on Welsh lichens of conservation concern and have commenced a project to identify lichen species of Welsh importance. They also maintain a database of lichen species recorded for each Welsh vice-county as a step towards identifying lichens of local importance.
Local registers of rare plants (vascular and bryophytes) are helping to define conservation status at the local (vice-county) level. Wales has taken a lead in this.
UK database of records of threatened bryophytes has been established which are helping to define conservation status. Similar databases for lichens and stoneworts have been established for Wales.
V) Progress made towards target (please specify indicators used to monitor progress towards the target)
Measured against the ongoing actions and high priority additional work identified in Plant Diversity Challenge: The UK’s response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/
The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, with additional funding from English Nature, the Environment and Heritage Service and Countryside Council for Wales, have completed the basidiomycete checklist. This will be published during 2005 and made available to the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Species Dictionary.
The NBN Species Dictionary has copies of the current checklists provided by the Botanical Society of the British Isles, the British Bryological Society, the British Lichen Society and the British Phycological Society. All the checklists are available on the Species Dictionary CD, and all except algae are available on the website. The algae checklists will be added to the website during 2005. Update mechanisms are being developed by the Species Dictionary Project, and regular updates are anticipated.
VI) Constraints to achieving progress towards the target
Most of the checklists are maintained and updated by learned societies relying on volunteer effort, although the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh help to provide expertise for the bryological and lichen lists. There will be a continued need for a core of professional taxonomy in the future to ensure provision of an effective up-to-date checklist.
VII) Any other relevant information
The National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG) are developing computer software that will allow Collection Holders to document the cultivated taxa in their collections and to publish this information in the public domain.
Kew is facilitating stakeholder consultation on Target 1, and coordinated a workshop in 2004 which summarised progress so far, identified gaps and barriers preventing progress and suggested solutions. By 2005, the Target will be around 50% complete. There are some large families and groups awaiting to be tackled, such as Asteraceae and ferns. A metadatabase covering progress towards the target is being prepared jointly between Kew, Species 2000 and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
Target 2. A preliminary assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, at national, regional and international levels.
I) Has your country established national target corresponding to the above global target?
a) Yes
x
b) No
Please specify
See Plant Diversity Challenge: The UK’s response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/
II) Has your country incorporated the above global or national target into relevant plans, programmes and strategies?
a) Yes
b) No
x
Please specify
III) Current status (please indicate current status related to this target)
Red Data Lists for Great Britain exist for vascular plants, bryophytes, lichens, and charophytes. Northern Ireland has been assessed in conjunction with the Republic of Ireland, and there are Red Data Lists for vascular plants and charophytes.
No Red Data Lists exist for non-lichenised fungi or algae other than charophytes.
IV) Measures taken to achieve target (please indicate activities, legislative measures and other steps taken with a view to achieve the target)
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) has established a Species Status Assessment Project to support Red Listing and other conservation assessments in Great Britain. The aims of the project are to establish a single agreed process for assessing species status, using the expertise available in the country agencies, other professional bodies and the voluntary sector; to ensure the process is both efficient and transparent and that the resultant lists of species status are clearly disseminated to all potential users; and to ensure that all lists of species status are updated according to an agreed timetable. This will act as an umbrella project encompassing workshops on criteria, an ongoing review programme, and identification of plant surveillance requirements.
A review of plant conservation in the Environment and Heritage Service is underway. This will address the need for status assessment in Northern Ireland within the overall framework of the GSPC. Published lists of NI priority species and species of conservation concern will influence this work and are likely to inform a revised Red Data List.
V) Progress made towards target (please specify indicators used to monitor progress towards the target)
Measured against the ongoing actions and high priority additional work identified in Plant Diversity Challenge: The UK’s response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/
A Red Data List is being developed for macrofungi and selected microfungi by the British Mycological Society.
A new Red Data List for Great Britain of charophytes has been completed, with funding from Environment Agency, English Nature and Plantlife. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/
All vascular plants in the UK are currently being reassessed using IUCN criteria, as a part of the JNCC Species Status Assessment Project. Specialists from the Country Agencies, Plantlife, Botanical Society of the British Isles, Biological Records Centre, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Natural History Museum are involved. A new Red Data List will be published in April 2005 as both a report and on the JNCC website.
The British Phycological Society have prepared a candidate Red Data List of the freshwater green algae known as desmids, and have drawn up a list of marine algae which are potentially rare.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh are conducting phylogeographic studies on several vascular plant species and bryophytes of conservation concern.
VI) Constraints to achieving progress towards the target
Further progress with algal groups will be difficult without more taxonomic specialists.
It will be difficult to provide any assessment of the global context of the UK flora without an effective network of international specialists. The need for such a group was highlighted at the Planta Europa conference in 2004.
VII) Any other relevant information
209 UK Crop Wild Relative taxa have been assessed using current IUCN criteria. http://www.pgrforum.org/ Mitchell et al. (in prep.)
Kew has developed GIS methodologies for increasing production of preliminary conservation assessments. See www.kew.org/gis/. In 2001-2004, Kew produced/contributed to 11,000 species use and conservation assessments and plans, and supported 30 habitat conservation assessments.
Two types of conservation assessment will be carried out as part of the Millennium Seed Bank Project (MSBP) ‘Enhancement Grant’. The first are country based preliminary conservation assessments, which classify a species according to their threat of extinction, based on geographical range calculations. During the course of the MSBP Enhancement Grant, it is expected that 6,600 taxa will be assessed. The most threatened species from each country will undergo more detailed conservation assessments using more criteria based on IUCN categories and criteria. These assessments may be made at a country or a regional level (global in the case of endemics).
