Funded by GGI-Gardens Awards Program, in partnership with United States Botanic Garden

Project Completed: 2024

Institution: Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute

Building a Biorepository of Western Ghats Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

Project goal

The Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) was founded in 1979 in Kerala, India with the objective of providing conservation of tropical plant resources in India and Kerala in particular. JNTBGRI received its third GGI-Gardens Partnership award in 2023. JNTBGRI has strategically targeted nearly 200 taxa through the GGI-Gardens Partnership Awards.

Key achievements

This year’s funding supported their work for establishing a biorepository for the plants of the Andaman Islands, a remote archipelago off the coast of India that is accessible by permit only.

Employing the GGI Gap Analysis Tool, JNTBGRI identified 41 species across 40 genera (27 families), with over half of these genera being novel to the GGBN. Notably, nine target species, three of which are endemic to the Andaman Islands, are classified under various IUCN Red List categories, including critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable.

The biorepository will house samples sourced from the living collections of gardens, contributing to the conservation and sustainable utilization of the Andaman Islands’ diverse botanical resources. Specifically this initiative aims to serve as a valuable resource for on-going research and conservation initiatives in the region.