The Fourth Global Botanic Gardens Congress ‘Addressing global change – a new agenda for botanic gardens’ was held at the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland near Dublin from 13 June to 18 June 2010. The congress was a great success with over 370 delegates attending, representing 53 countries.

There were 13 plenary addresses, 27 parallel sessions (of which 12 were organised symposium on special topics), 136 talks and three panel discussions. Feedback was provided at the end of every session – this was divided into three themes: strategies and targets; conservation action; and engaging with society . A conclusions session on the last day of the congress lead to a conclusions presentation.

During the Congress there were calls to establish:

• A Botanic gardens cycad collections consortium (as part of IUCN SSC)
• A European network of botanic gardens working with cryptogams
• An Oceanic Island Plant Network – see the Island Statement and further details

Papers from the proceedings
Opening plenary, papers by BGCI General Secretary Sara Oldfield: Plant conservation, botanic gardens and the International Agenda, and President of Missouri Botanicial Gardens Peter Raven, Reflections on 40 years of plant conservation

Papers listed by theme:

• The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation – 2010 and beyond
• Addressing the threat from invasive aliens, pests and diseases
• Building sustainable botanic gardens
• Frontiers of science and conservation biology research in botanic gardens
• Addressing climate change through botanic gardens
• Working with local communities towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals
• Environmental education in botanic gardens
• Botanic garden horticulture