‘Conserving Europe’s threatened plants: Progress towards Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation’ was launched in 2009 at at the fifth European Botanic Gardens Congress: Botanic gardens in the age of climate change, in Helsinki, Finland.

The continuing loss of biodiversity in Europe is a major concern, with less than half protected species and habitats considered to be in favourable conservation status. This report identified 1,917 threatened European taxa, or 15% of the entire European flora. This list is based largely on national Red Lists and species distribution data. It identified approximately 42% of threatened taxa as being present in seed banks or living collections in botanic gardens around the world. The report also includes a number of case studies on the conservation work underway in botanic gardens in Europe.