News Published: 20 January 2025

Reverse the Red Day is an annual event to amplify the successful conservation efforts of our community – highlighting strategies that are recovering species and halting extinctions. This includes all the work of the botanic garden and plant conservation community! Reverse the Red Day is building on the tremendous reach of the World Species Congress hosted in May of last year. It is looking forward to hosting online forums geared towards accelerating strategic action for threatened species.

Please choose one of the following two times to join Reverse the Red for an engaging discussion session around moving from ideas to actions for threatened species:
● February 6, 2025 | 1500 – 1700 ET / 2000 – 2200 GMT | Register
● February 7, 2025 | 0600 – 0800 ET / 1100 – 1300 GMT | Register

This year, Reverse the Red is focusing a call to action for organisations to submit a Reverse the Red Species Pledge. The Reverse the Red Species Pledge is designed to understand which organizations, groups, and agencies are committed to specific strategic recovery actions for identified species in specific countries.196 countries have signed on to the Global Biodiversity Framework with specific commitment to Goal A and Target 4 – halting extensions, reversing declines, and recovering populations; plant, fungi, and animals. To achieve these targets, we need coordinated, strategic efforts from all partners and this Species Pledge is our first step to understanding which organizations are committing their skills, experience, and knowledge to participating in the recovery of specific species. It provides an online presence for showcasing on the ground conservation action and commitments across a range of organisations of all sizes.

A species pledge for a botanic garden might include field and collection trips for threatened flora, running invasive species monitoring programmes in and outside garden walls, identifying new propagation methods for at risk species or working with communities for restoration or sustainable plant and habitat use. Many botanic garden activities are already actionable species pledges! At BGCI we have made pledges in relation to Global Tree Assessment and our practical action programmes. These were discussed by BGCI’s Kirsty Shaw in a recent webinar.

As well as a species pledge there are many other ways to get involved with Reverse the Red Day!

● This year, Reverse the Red is also launching a new Species Pledge Video Contest! This is a great opportunity to showcase the work that you are doing, the impact you have for your species, and tie your work to this global movement working to halt extinctions, reverse declines, and restore populations. Organisations who have made or are planning to make a Reverse the Red Species Pledge are welcome to join our Pledge Contest. Videos of no more than 3 minutes long will be presented for public voting starting February 1 and winners announced on Reverse the Red Day! Please consider a video that describes your pledge, what you have achieved so far, and what your goals are for the next year. These can be in any language and we hope that you will share them with your organisation’s audiences and encourage public voting.
Species Pledge Video Submission, due by January 31.

● The Reverse the Red Day Toolkit will continue to be updated on an ongoing basis. This toolkit can be used as a template to share stories of your organisation’s conservation impact leading up to and on Reverse the Red Day and tag Reverse the Red and BGCI so we can celebrate your successes.

● And additional information can be found on the Reverse the Red Day page including materials and the link to register your Reverse the Red Day satellite event.