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The Global Plant Actions

We are calling on governments, international institutions, NGOs, the private sector, educational organisations, indigenous peoples and local communities, universities and research organisations, farmers and individuals to take up the Global Plant Actions and apply them within their own programmes, activities and lives.

Wetland with green lily pads. Forestry on the shore.
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Far too often, world’s wild plants and fungi are relegated to a green background for more charismatic wildlife. It is time they are brought to the forefront and celebrated for the amazing value they bring to every aspect of life on earth.

We all have a part to play in helping wild plants and fungi to thrive, now and for future generations.

Why focus on plants and fungi?

We know that life on earth depends on its extraordinary diversity of plants and fungi, yet potentially 45% of all flowering plant species are threatened with extinction.

They form the basis of most terrestrial ecosystems and provide ecosystem services to support human wellbeing, including climate regulation and food security. Plants and their ecosystems have influenced our cultural and spiritual development and are woven into languages, place names, religion and folklore across the world.

What is the strategy?

Plant species and their habitats often require specific conservation actions distinct from other taxa which may be overlooked in wider biodiversity actions and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) provides a guide to take those actions.

The new GSPC is a set of 21 Global Plant Conservation Actions that guide the implementation of the 23 Targets and 3 Goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) agreed in 2022.

The 21 Actions aim to address the conservation of all plants including wild plants, medicinal plants, and their wild relatives.

Read the ‘A new Global Strategy for Plant Conservation‘ briefing we produced for the Twenty-fifth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice.

What are the actions?

NoGlobal Plants Actions
1Plan our use of the land using best knowledge of wild plants and fungi.
2 Recover degraded land using a diversity of native plants and fungi.
3 Identify, protect and care for Important Plant Areas.
4Stop the extinction of wild plants and fungi and recover threatened species.
Maintain the genetic diversity of the plants and fungi we rely on.
5 Ensure the harvest and trade of wild plants and fungi is sustainable.
6 Control the impact of invasive species on native plants and fungi.
7 Take action to protect wild plants and fungi from pollution.
8  Use native wild plants and fungi for climate solutions.
9 Support Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities to care for the wild plants and fungi they rely on.
10Restore the diversity of wild plants and fungi in areas used for farming, forestry and fisheries.
11Use native wild plants and fungi to restore habitats and ecosystems.
12Create plant-rich green spaces in towns and cities.
13Share the benefits of wild plant and fungi resources and knowledge fairly.
14Integrate plant and fungi diversity into policy, planning and strategies.
15Practice the sustainable use of wild plants and fungi.
16
  • Support sustainable consumption of wild plants and fungi for food, fibre, medicine and construction.
  • Develop educational programmes on the impact of the consumption of wild plants and fungi.
No particular plant conservation action is required under Target 17 & 18, except to support its achievement
19Mobilise resources for plant and fungi conservation action.
20
  • Develop skills and capacity for plant and fungi conservation and ecological restoration.
  • Build partnerships for collaborative plant and fungi conservation.
21
  • Build public awareness of the value of plant and fungi diversity.
  • Make information about a country’s flora and funga readily accessible.
  • Develop citizen science programmes for plant and fungi conservation.
22Safeguard the botanical knowledge and practices of Indigenous People and Local Communities.
23Uphold women’s right to participate, make decisions and have equal access to plant resources.

Read the full actions here: Plant conservation (cbd.int)

Read the technical rationales for the Actions here

What other UN frameworks are the actions related to?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including but not limited to:

  • Goal 15 – Life on Land
  • Goal 14- Life Below Water
  • Goal 13- Climate Action
  • Goal 12- Responsible Consumption and Production.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Action 8 is directly related to climate mitigation.

Background

Plantlife has been working with our partners over the past 20 years to make sure that plant conservation is given priority within global biodiversity agreements.

In 2002, this led to the United Nations CBD adopting a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which was updated 10 years later.

We helped establish the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation and coordinated the Important Plant Areas programme – an important tool for achieving the target 5 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation: to protect and manage at least 75 % of the most important areas for plant diversity of each ecological region.

Twelve years on from the last update, the Parties to the CBD adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) in December 2022. Within this framework in Decisions   and 15/13 the Conference of the Parties invited the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation (GPPC), with the support of the Secretariat, to prepare a set of complementary actions related to plant conservation to support the implementation of the KMGBF.

We were one of the GPPC members which took on the task to draft these complementary actions as an update to the GSPC. The Actions were presented at the 25th Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in October 2023 to be recommended for adoption at the next Conference of the Parties in 2024. After feedback from Parties they were updated and the new and final version of the actions can be found here.