XVI International Botanical Congess

Living collections in botanical gardens contain about 1/3 of the world's flora and are a resource for conservation and sustainable use. Ornamental, medicinal and forest species,landraces, wild food plants and other locally utilised species, are conserved. Between 1 and 5 accessions are conserved per taxon ensuring much inter-species but little intra-species genetic diversity. Continued access to PGR is essential to maintain and improve the quality of collections. BGs also collect PGR and supply them to other gardens, government departments, universities, research institutions, seed companies, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. But the ambiguous status of botanic gardens and lack of clarity regarding their obligations hinders their activities. These issues will be discussed in the context of living collections held in the NBI's 8 National Botanical Gardens.