Important Plant Areas Protecting Plant Species – Webinar

Join us for a webinar organised in partnership with the Reverse the Red movement on Important Plant Areas (IPAs) Protecting Threatened Plant Species.

Chaired by: Ian Dunn, Plantlife CEO

Speakers:

• Iain Darbyshire, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Research Leader
• Charlotte Couch, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Project Officer: Tropical Important Plant Areas (TIPAs) of Guinea
• Nicola Hutchinson, Plantlife, Director of Conservation

Webinar Topic:

The issue of plant blindness; the application of IPAs using IPA criteria; overview of IPA role in the ‘assess, plan and act’ cycle.  

Asses: The use of Red Lists for the identification of the Important Plant Areas against IPA criteria, example from Africa. 

Plan: The role of IPAs in planning for species recovery (reintroduction) an example from Guinea. 

Act: How conservation activities within an IPA are supporting species recovery, an example from the UK. 

To complete the webinar there will be a Q&A session.

Speaker Biographies:

Ian Dunn 

Ian Dunn joined Plantlife as Chief Executive in early 2020 from the role of Chief Operating Officer at the University of Southampton. Plantlife is the UK’s largest NGO focussed on the conservation of wild plants and fungi, on our own reserves and with land owning or managing partners from all sectors of society. Plantlife is also instrumental on the international stage as a founding member of the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation and co-author of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. Previously, Ian was the Chief Executive of the Galapagos Conservation Trust and on the managing board of the British Antarctic Survey. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. 

Iain Darbyshire 

Iain Darbyshire is a botanist at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew with over 20 years’ experience of documenting species diversity and extinction risk in tropical Africa. With a keen interesting in applying taxonomic knowledge and collections-based science to biodiversity conservation planning, he co-ordinates the Tropical Important Plant Areas programme at Kew and is working in close collaboration with partners in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Uganda to document IPAs and advocate for their protection and sustainable management. 

Charlotte Couch 

Charlotte Couch is the project coordinator for the Tropical Important Plant Areas of Guinea for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and is Technical Advisor to the National Herbarium of Guinea. She works with project partners to deliver conservation of threatened plants and implementation of IPAs in Guinea with local communities. She has over 15 years’ experience of working on the plants of Guinea and developing collaborations. 

Nicola Hutchinson 

Nicola Hutchinson leads Plantlife’s conservation teams and programmes across the UK and globally. With over 20 years’ experience in the strategic development and delivery of conservation programmes, political advocacy and the establishment of coalitions and partnerships. Nicola played a lead role in the identification and subsequent conservation of the UK’s Important Plant Areas.