Top experts attend Qur'anic Botanic Garden's webinar

Beyond their aesthetic exterior and their important scientific and educational environmental functions, botanic gardens play an integral role in natural ecosystem protection and restoration, attendees learned from Qur’anic Botanic Garden’s (QBG) latest online seminar titled ‘Species Recovery and Ecological Restoration: The Developing Roles of Botanic Gardens’.

Held as part of the Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture, the webinar by the QBG, a member of Qatar Foundation and the first garden in the world to exhibit all plant species mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, Hadith and Sunnah, brought together QBG specialists as well as experts from Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG), Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), Royal Botanic Gardens - Kew, and the Royal Botanical Garden of Jordan, to discuss strategies to reverse the degradation of ecosystems and combat climate change.Fatima al-Khulaifi, director, QBG, said: “We are pleased to have brought together the MBG, BGCI and our counterparts from other botanical gardens in Europe and the Middle East to discuss the ever-increasing importance of biodiversity and how collaborative efforts across botanical gardens can amplify our positive impact on the planet.“Since biodiversity makes the Earth habitable and enables functioning ecosystems that provide clean air and water, plant pollination and nature-based solutions that protect us from floods and storms, QBG has placed biodiversity at the heart of all of its initiatives, and as such, supports both the Qatar National Vision 2030 and UN’s Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. In 2021 alone, QBG rehabilitated 315 native desert trees in the Rawdat Al-Faras area and planted 120 trees in the Qatar Foundation restoration site.”Dr Peter Wyse Jackson, president, MBG, said: “I am delighted that QBG and the MBG have agreed to develop close co-operation. In the current context of rapid biodiversity loss and the growing impact of climate change on people, plants and the environment, it is essential that we all work together through strong partnerships, to identify priorities and effective action to safeguard plants worldwide for the future. We hope that our collaboration will be a valuable model for others, working together to achieve the targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, adopted by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.”Sharing his insight on the evolving role of botanical gardens, especially in conserving plant biodiversity, Paul Smith, secretary-general, BGCI, said: “The West Asia region gave rise to some of humankind’s earliest garden developments. Throughout history, gardens were created to serve manifold functions whether for aesthetics, the study and supply of herbal medicine or cultivation trials of introduced species including crops and ornamental plants. More recently, botanic gardens have evolved as essential agents in the race to save plant species from extinction, and to deploy their knowledge of habitat restoration and species recovery in the wild. This region is also at the heart of one of the oldest and still practiced concepts of conservation, al Hima. This traditional system of resource tenure is hailed as one of the most successful approaches for integrating nature conservation with human wellbeing.”Joachim Gratzfeld, director of Regional Programmes, BGCI, stressed that there is a need for botanic gardens to work together and share their resources and knowledge at local, regional, and global levels, saying: “BGCI welcomes the vital efforts of botanic gardens joining forces in the region. Acting in a co-ordinated network allows us to be better heard as a united voice so that our knowledge and expertise can be applied to stabilise and reverse the threats posed by the loss of biodiversity.”As part of its collaboration with MBG, QBG hosted the webinar to facilitate the exchange of expertise and enable networking opportunities between prominent environmental experts representing some of the world’s most well-known botanical gardens and institutions.More information on QBG’s upcoming events, competitions and activities can be found on its social media channels on Instagram: quranicgarden; Facebook: quranicgarden.qa; Twitter: @QuranicGarden; and YouTube channel: Qur’anic Botanic Garden.