The China Wild Plant Conservation Association (CWPCA) together with the Biodiversity Committee, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (GPPC), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and SEE Foundation organized the 2019 World Forum on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation from October 28-29, 2019, in Dujiangyan City, Sichuan Province, China.

More than 260 participants, including experts, colleagues and other guests from all over the world and China, attended this meeting.

The year before the CBD COP 15, the World Forum on the GSPC was organized within the context of international stakeholder consultations on this proposed post-2020 global biodiversity framework to discuss and review:

1. The current status on progress in the achievement of plant conservation worldwide, as guided by the GSPC (2011-2020);
2. Experience and lessons learnt from GSPC implementation, which may inform future priorities and approaches to plant conservation worldwide;
3. Views, positions and perspectives on the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and;
4. A possible GSPC framework for the post-2020 period, linked to the over-arching global biodiversity framework.

The participants in the Forum expressed their strong support for the development and adoption by the Parties to the CBD of a global plant conservation strategy for the post-2020 period. They resolved to provide the results of the Forum to the CBD as a contribution towards future plans for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, contributing to the achievement of the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs). They noted the importance of plants and their conservation in helping to address many of the global challenges identified by the SDGs.

Furthermore, they reiterated their strong support for and commitment to the achievement of the GSPC under the CBD and recognized that the continuation of the GSPC, within the context of the CBD, is essential for continued success in plant conservation at all levels. They highlighted the particular and unique roles of the botanical community, including botanic gardens, in conservation and the remarkable progress achieved since 2002, supported through the guidance and framework provided by the GSPC first adopted in that year.

They also expressed the hope that the GSPC could be increasingly mainstreamed into national biodiversity frameworks so that it becomes effectively nested into a post-2020 global biodiversity framework which will be adopted by the world community.

The Forum recognized the important leadership being offered by China in hosting this Forum and for the upcoming CBD COP 15 in 2020 and they expressed the hope that the Chinese government would continue to play a leadership role in relation to a future post-2020 GSPC.

At the end of the Forum, participants agreed on a declaration, the full text of which can be downloaded here.

More information about the Forum is available here.