News Bites
1. Marie-Victorin à Cuba
A book by André Bouchard on Quebec's famous botanist. Read
the press
release.
2. EMAN Programmes Under Threat
It seems that the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment
Network is under threat of loosing most financial support from the
federal government. A message we received invites us to communicate
with the Minister of Environment to plea for this institution. >
See original message:
3. Fifth World Environmental Education Congress
Not much information is available yet, but it seems that
in 2009, the fifth World Environmental Education Congress will be
held in Montreal. It will be co-hosted by researcher Lucie Sauvé,
Canada Research Chair in Environmental Education. The goal of this
congress would be to examine how to shift society from environmental
awareness to environmental action.
More info: chaire.educ.env@uqam.ca
4. The ethnobotany of British home gardens
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew provide assistance to
an interesting project called ‘the ethnobotany of British
home gardens: diversity, knowledge and exchange’. The Department
of Anthropology at the University of Kent started to inventory the
biological resource from different kinds of home gardens in Kent
as well as their use. The project will also study the social networks
along which plants and knowledge are exchanged. The level to which
gardening and garden produce can contribute financially to the household
will also be researched.
More info: Project
Website
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Upcoming events:
(Events are posted in the language(s)
in which they are presented):
October 15 - 19, 2007
Fifth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Article
8(j) and Related Provisions (WG8J-5)
Montreal, Canada
>
Meeting Documents
>
Meeting Outline
October 17, 2007
Second Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Consortium of
Scientific Partners and Institutions
Paris, France
Contact: secretariat@cbd.int
October 22 - 26, 2007
Fourth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group of Legal
and Technical Experts on Liability and Redress in the context of
the Protocol
Montreal, Canada
Contact: secretariat@cbd.int
November 7-9, 2007
Biodiversity or Bust: Annual Botanic Gardens Education
Network’s Conference
The Conference will explore how we can better deliver the education
and public awareness target of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
>
More info
November 14-17, 2007
North American Environmental Education Association
2007 Conference
"Explore New Horizons for Environmental Education"
Virginia Beach, USA
> More
info
November 19 - 23, 2007
Arctic Region Workshop on Indigenous Communities, Tourism
and Biodiversity: New Information and Web-based Technologies
Quebec City, Canada
Contact: secretariat@cbd.int
May 12 – 16, 2008
Planet Diversity: World Congress on the Future of Food and Farming
Bonn, Germany
>
More info
Conference overview (English
PDF, PDF
en français)
May 19-30, 2008
Ninth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention
on Biological Diversity (COP-9)
Bonn, Germany
>
More info
October 5 - 14, 2008
The World Conservation Forum
Barcelona, Spain
>
More info
Le Forum mondial de la nature
Barcelone du 5 au 14 octobre 2008
>
Plus d'info
November 20 - 22, 2008
World Biodiversity Congress
Chiang Mai, Thailand
>
More info
2009
Fifth World Environmental Education Congress
Montreal, Canada
Contact: chaire.educ.env@uqam.ca
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Subscription information
If you would like to subscribe, have any questions or if
would like to contribute a news item, please contact Yann Vergriete,
newsletter editor or David Gailbraith, CBCN executive director:
yannvergriete@fastmail.fm
(514) 872-5420
dgalbraith@rbg.ca
(905) 527-1158 ext. 309
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Acknowledgements
We would like thank the following for their contributions
and support:
Translation: Élizabeth Eudes-Pascal, Eugénie Pascal
and Matthew Everitt
Design & Layout: Cheryl Fraser
Sponsors: Department of Canadian Heritage, Museums Assistance Program
Partners: Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Canadian Botanical
Conservation Network, and the Montréal Botanical Garden
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Dear readers,
The working group for the Canadian Outreach Guide to Plant Biodiversity
Education convened at the Montréal Botanical Garden September
12-14th for an extremely pleasant and productive meeting. I wish
to extend a heartfelt thank you to the participants for contributing
their time to share their ideas. The work is not yet complete, but
the guide is beginning to take shape. In fact, the exciting news
is that a web site is being created (www.plantbiodiversity.ca),
which should be operational by the end of the year. This site aims
to serve as a support tool and resource for educators in botanical
gardens, zoos and museums across Canada. It will present a combination
of activities related to outreach education and will also serve
as a resource, providing links to organizations involved in plant
conservation, tips for financing educational projects, as well as
displaying a selection of national curriculum objectives related
to plant biodiversity education.
The website plantbiodiversity.ca will remain ‘under development’,
and we will count on the contribution from members to support and help
the site develop. We are designing a simple process to add content and
you will be invited to do so during your visits.
Thank you to all of the authors who have contributed articles for
this edition of the newsletter!
Cordially,
Yann
1. Urgence Conservation:
The involvement of the Montréal Botanical Garden in the safeguarding
of Quebec’s plant heritage, Stéphanie Pellerin,
Institut de recherche en biologie végétale, The Montréal
Botanical Garden
From left to right: Charlène Heiniger and
Nathalie Laplante
Photo: Jacinthe Letendre
In 2001 the Montréal Botanical Garden inaugurated the Urgence-Conservation
program, with the aim of conserving off-site the threatened flora of Southern
Quebec. At the time, a score of rare species were already present in the
collections of the Garden. Today, due to harvest and propagation activities,
the collection of rare Quebec plants at the Montréal Botanical
Garden has risen to 104 species. Although the off-site conservation is
a worthwhile venture, it is not meant to replace the conservation efforts
in the natural environment. Accordingly, a new phase aiming at on-site
conservation of rare plants was added in 2006 to the Urgence-Conservation
program. >
more
2. IUCN-SSC Plant Committee Gathers in
Eastern Ontario, Danna Leaman, Co-deputy chair, IUCN-SSC
Plant Conservation Sub-Committee
IUCN-SSC Plant Commitee
Photo: IUCN
In mid September, members and guests of the Plant Conservation Sub-Committee
of the Species Survival Commission, the World Conservation Union, gathered
for a two-day strategy session in Lanark County, Eastern Ontario. Foremost
on the agenda was a review of the activities of the IUCN network of plant
specialist groups during the current IUCN quadrennium (2005-2008), and
articulating the network’s priorities through 2012. >
more
3. CITES CoP14 Plants Results, Adrianne
Sinclair, CITES Scientific Advisor for Plant Trade
Photo: The CITES Secretariat
The 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP14) to the Convention
on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) took place from
June 3-15, in The Hague, Netherlands. There were 1250 participants representing
151 governments, inter-government and non-government organizations. The
CoP meets every three years to amend the list of species regulated under
the Convention in Appendices I and II. Decisions on proposals are taken
by a two-thirds majority of representatives present and voting. Sixteen
scientific proposals were submitted to amend the listings for flora. >
more
4. Plants for life:
medicinal plant conservation and botanic gardens, Belinda
Hawkins, BGCI
Photo: BGCI
For the past year, BGCI has been working for the conservation of medicinal
plant species via our project, ‘Safety nets for medicinal plants’.
The first stage of the project was to gather data on key medicinal plant
species and upload this information onto the PlantSearch database. The
second phase of the project was undertaking a broad consultation exercise,
begun at the Third Global Botanic Gardens Congress in Wuhan, China in
April this year. These responses and other inputs have resulted in the
publication of our report; ‘Plants for life: medicinal plant conservation
and botanic gardens’, due to be distributed at the end of October
this year. >
more
5. Adopt-a-Plant, René
J. Belland, Devonian Botanic Garden
Photo: Devonian Botanic Garden
Adopt-a-Plant Alberta is a new initiative whose goal is to involve plant
enthusiasts in the collection of information for use in reporting the
status of endangered species within the province. The program was born
from the recognition that many plants may be at risk of extirpation within
the province, but where the quality and quantity of information available
about the species may not be sufficient to build a case that would result
in a report of the species’ provincial status. Such reports are
a prerequisite before a species can be considered for a status assessment.
>
more
6. Review of the First
Conference on Phyto-Engineering in Québec, Jacques
Brisson, University of Montréal
Green roofs, plant barriers, marsh filters and other Phyto-Technologies
have made great strides in Quebec in recent years. On June 18th, the first
conference on Phyto-Engineering in Quebec, organized by l’Institut
de recherche en biologie végétale (the Plant Biology Research
Institute), was held at the Henry-Teuscher Auditorium at the Montreal
Botanical Garden. This conference had as its main goal to give a progress
report on the use of plants as an alternative to traditional technologies,
with the goal of improving environmental quality. >
more
Resources
Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on
Education in Botanic Gardens
The Nature of Success: Success for Nature Congress
was attended by more than 300 education professionals from
around the world. The proceedings are now online.
>
Get them
International Diploma Course in Botanic Garden Education
Thanks to this course, participants will have an understanding
of all the aspects required to create an education master
plan for their site.
>
More info
Education e-update
BGCI has launched a new resource for botanic garden educators: the
Education
E-update. Sent to your inbox every month with news updates
from BGCI and botanic gardens around the world; links to education
resources and materials you can use in your programmes; profiles
of plant-based conservation educators and programmes; and ideas
and feedback from our readers.
Your contributions are also welcome for future issues. Contact
e-update@bgci.org.
E-connections
The education team of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton
launched an e-newsletter focussing on biodiversity.
>
More info
My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant
(MEERA)
MEERA tells you why and how to conduct evaluations and provides
you with tools and methods to run your own evaluation. A discussion
forum as well as examples of noteworthy evaluations are to
come soon.
>
More info
Introduction to Invasive Plants
The Crop Protection Compendium gives a list of interesting
articles that introduce invasive plants issues.
>
More info
New web-based educational resource for primary schools
A website exploring the themes of Conservation, Art and Plants,
Food and Experimenting with Plant Growth will be available
on-line from November 2007. There will be enough activities
for many days of school work and some that can take place
in botanic gardens.
>
More info
Eco-Schools’ Linking and Itinerary System
The eco-school approach is intended to “raise students’
awareness of environmental and related sustainable development
issues through classroom study together with school and community
action, and provides an integrated system for environmental
management of schools based on an ISO14001/EMAS approach”.
A search engine for participating schools has recently been
created. With the ‘Linking and Itinerary System’
young people can visit each other schools virtually and understand
their regional contexts and culture. This will promote networking,
the exchange of ideas, etc.
>
More Into |
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Yann Vergriete
Project coordinator
Institut de recherche en biologie végétale
The Montréal Botanical Garden
4101, rue Sherbrooke Est
Montréal (Québec) H1X 2B2
CANADA
www.bgci.org/canada
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