News published: 11 October 2023

Roots 20.2 Connecting visitors with nature

The latest issue of BGCI’s education journal Roots, which focuses on connecting visitors with nature is now available. Now more than ever our planet and our wildlife are in crisis. Global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and habitat degradation are having a huge impact on nature. There is a lot of information out there about what is happening and what we all need to do to play our part. But this can often be overwhelming and scary. At the heart of these messages however is the fundamental connection that we as humans share with nature. If we can feel more connected with and love nature, then making the right choices to care for our planet is a natural next step. Botanic gardens are essential to that message and have a role to play in connecting visitors with nature. But how do we do it? What is the best way of going about it, are there strategies, tools and messaging that we can use as a community to strengthen our progress?

This issue features a range of articles from BGCI members on their events and activities and the ways in which they inspire a love of nature in their visitors.

You can also find back issues of Roots in our resources section.

Contribute to the next issue of Roots

The next issue of Roots will focus on conservation prioritisation and how we can engage our visitors with this important topic. In 2024 BGCI will have completed a ground breaking piece of work to assess the world’s tree – the Global Tree Assessment. This is a global effort with hundreds of partners contributing to this work and being supported by BGCI. But what are we doing with this information? Is there an opportunity to engage our visitors with this important area of our work and if so how do we go about it? We are looking for a range of examples that bridge the gap between the conservation assessment work taken place to understand the status of the world’s plant species, and the stories that we tell our visitors. This could include interpretation examples, lesson plans, focused booklets, science communication talks, and much more.

To contribute, please send a 100 word abstract to Ane Zabaleta by 15th January 2024.