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The Ghost Orchid Declaration in Wales

What’s it about?

The Ghost Orchid is the latest in a long line of the UK’s native wild plants to have been declared extinct. In response, Plantlife has published a new report called The Ghost Orchid Declaration. This is a call to arms to governments, Members of Parliament, conservation organisations and the general public to ensure that we do not lose any more of our irreplaceable flora.

Why is it important?

Wild plants are the silent majority, the wallflowers at the biodiversity ball. They are the fundamental building blocks of our natural environment, sustaining us as well as the insects, birds and animals we cherish. Fresh air, clean water, carbon storage – all thanks to wild plants yet too often they are relegated to the role of scenic background to our more charismatic wildlife and their value is underestimated. The Ghost Orchid Declaration offers new and challenging solutions to conserve and secure the long-term survival of this precious resource.

Some facts:

• One in five wild flowers in Wales is either extinct or threatened with extinction. The most recent victim in Wales was Oysterplant, lost in 1989 through a combination of habitat destruction and climate change.
• Of the 543 priority species on the Welsh Assembly Government’s Section 42 List of Priority Species for Conservation, 40% are plants and fungi.
• In Wales, just two experts are employed directly by government to conserve fungi, mosses and lichens. Yet we have over 75% of the diversity of these species in Britain.
• Out of £4million given in biodiversity research contracts by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee from 2007-2009, nothing went towards plant and fungi projects.
• Across the UK, flowering plants and ferns are at the bottom of the Government’s league table for features in favourable condition on Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
• Wales’ upland and arable landscapes provide a home to our most threatened plants. Upland plants like Tufted Saxifrage have suffered from overgrazing and are vulnerable to climate change, while arable flowers such as Corn Buttercup and Small-flowered Catchfly have declined as our farming landscape has changed from cereal to grazing. More intense management of grassland means ongoing losses - out of 18 sites for Lesser Butterfly Orchid in Monmouthshire, just one remains today.
• The places where Wales’s legally protected animals live are protected by law – but the places where legally protected plants grow are not. Why is it OK to protect a newt’s home but not that of the Radnor Lily?