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Convention on Biological DiversityPlant Conservation Report Page 24TARGET 7:SIXTY PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S THREATENED SPECIESCONSERVED IN SITUIntroductionThis target is concerned with conservingthreatened plant species in their naturalhabitats. These species are thoseconsidered the most likely to become extinct,and hence achieving this target would be a majorstep forward in halting the loss of plant diversity.Threatened species include many medicinalplants, timber species and crop wild relatives,which are important for livelihoods.The exact number of threatened species inthe world remains to be determined throughthe achievement of Target 2. Among the plantgroups, only the gymnosperms have a completeassessment, and one third of all gymnospermspecies are considered threatened. It is notknown what proportion of other plant groups isthreatened. Some estimates suggest that morethan one third of all plant species are currentlythreatened with extinction.Conserving threatened species often requires morethan the designation of protected areas althoughthese are important. Some countries have putin place a legislative framework for conservingthreatened species, in addition to designatingprotected areas. Threatened species need tobe conserved wherever they grow, and this caninclude urban landscapes and production landsas well as natural and semi-natural habitats.Conserving threatened species can posechallenges, particularly where these are found inhabitats under private land ownership. Howeverthere are also important opportunities forpartnerships with business.Target 7 can be considered as the plant componentof the 2010 Target 2.2: ‘Status of threatenedspecies improved’. It is also explicitly linked tothe achievement of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals to ensure environmental sustainabilitythrough the use of the Red List Index as anindicator of achieving a reduction in the rate ofbiodiversity loss.ProgressCritically Endangered (CR)4%Endangered (EN)8%Vulnerable (VU)8%Possible NearThreatened (NT)12%Monocots threatstatus based onpreliminary resultsfor 588 speciesLeast Concern (LC)38%Data Deficient (DD)30%An indicator on the change of ‘Status of ThreatenedSpecies’. For plants there is currently only a baselineassessment available, shown for monocots. Source: KewScientist April 2008The indicator for this target is the plant part ofthe 2010 Indicator on the change in status ofthreatened species. This is measured using aRed List Index for birds, mammals, amphibians,cycads and conifers, and a Sampled Red List Indexfor all other species groups. Eventually the indiceswill show trends in the proportion of speciesfor which the risk of going extinct increaseswithout additional conservation interventions.The Red List Index for birds shows a continuingdeterioration. Trends in other groups are lesscertain, but are believed to also show a continuingdeterioration.A number of countries report that protectedareas have been speciically designated to protectthreatened species, although it is still believedthat too few protected areas include conservingplant species within their management objectives.A number of plant groups have complete statusassessments published alongside action plansfor their conservation, these include conifers andcycads, and these action plans will make a positivedifference to the conservation of these groups.
The FutureSparaxis maculosa, a Critically Endangered speciesoccurring in the Overberg region of the SouthWesternCape, South Africa (Photo: SANBI).CREW, the Custodians of Rare and EndangeredWildflowers, is a programme that involvesvolunteers from the public in the monitoring andconservation of South Africa’s threatened plants.In so doing CREW aims to capacitate a networkof volunteers from a range of socioeconomicbackgrounds. The programme linksvolunteerswith their local conservation agencies andparticularly with local land stewardshipinitiatives to ensure the conservation of key sitesfor threatened plant species.It will remain vital for the most threatened speciesto have conservation interventions plannedexplicitly to achieve their conservation. If weare to achieve the overall objective of halting theloss of plant diversity (or that of biodiversity), itwill be necessary to move from conserving 60%in situ to the conservation of 100%. Thereforethe actions underpinning this target will remainessential beyond 2010, as the current targetis only a milestone towards the inal objective.Climate change poses new threats to species, andnew approaches to modelling plant responseswill need to be developed to detect potentiallythreatened species. Already it is known that theprojected climate space for species will change,and hence the threat to species will also change.Enhanced target implementation will be necessaryboth to achieve the long-term objective and tocounter the new threats from climate change.It is believed that enhanced implementationwill require new partnerships to be made, forinstance between botanists and landowners orbetween protected area management authoritiesand botanic gardens. It is desirable that countriesshould develop their own measures of progress inconserving nationally threatened species.South Africa has a significant 2577 threatenedplant species. Over 350 CREW volunteers makesignificant contributions to ongoing monitoringand conservation of these plant species by:• Surveying remaining patches of naturalvegetation for threatened plant populations;• Actively adopting key sites for conservation ofthreatened plants;• Working with landowners on whose landthreatened plants occur;• Conducting demographic monitoring of certainpopulations on an annual basis; and• Conducting threatened plant/habitatawareness raising activities.CREW is managed by the South African NationalBiodiversity Institute.Warburgia ugandensis bushes in production landscapesin East Africa (Photo: National Museums of Kenya).Plant Conservation ReportPage 25 Convention on Biological Diversity
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