2021-07-20: The battle against biodiversity loss | Sustainability Index Webinar

We are delighted to be a part of this Sustainability Index Webinar series and would like to thank APGA for the opportunity. All the material is available for free at the Public Gardens Sustainability Index (APGA). If you are a non-APGA member and interested in aiming for excellence in one or more of the attributes, it can even be possible to get your achievements validated through APGA. Get in touch with us to learn more. You probably do a lot already and we hope this Webinar-series will inspire you to apply changes to your organisation for a sustainable future. Every bit helps!

⏭ 2021-07-07: Introducing the Public Graden Sustainability Index Webinar-series

Biodiversity & Conservation

July 20th initiated the webinar-series and we learned how biodiversity and conservation initiatives can be applied from three different gardens, represented by Beatriz Maruri-Aguilar at the Cadereyta Regional Botanic Garden, Damon Waitt from North Carolina Botanic Garden, and Silvia Alvarez Clare from The Morton Arboretum. Each of the presenting gardens has received recognition through our Sustainability Index for their extraordinary biodiversity and conservation work.

In addition, we also heard from Holly Forbes, Curator at the University of California Botanical Garden and Chair of the Association's Plant Conservation Community, who spoke about the Community, its resources, and how to get involved.

A recording of the meeting can be viewed On-Demand (APGA).

We also had an thought-provoking "Biodiversity & Conservation Sustainability Insights" with all panelists and an exclusive group of people where we could share experiences and advice first hand to the participants.

Wondering how IrisBG can help you in your Biodiversity & Conservation work? Continue reading.

Use IrisBG to Document - Track - Share

IrisBG can serve as a helpful tool on your path to achieve greatness in the attributes of the Public Gardens Sustainability Index. As the focus of the first Sustainability Index Webinar-series was on Biodiversity and Conservation, we would like to mention the Polly Hill Arboretum who already have gained recognition in this attribute and used IrisBG extensively in the process. We will highlight three aspects of this work and of how IrisBG can be of great help. 

Documenting

The first, Documentation, is essential both for your collection and in IrisBG. You have the possibility to record both wild collected material, the plants in your garden or arboreta and preserved material like your herbarium or DNA specimens. In addition to record accessions and manage taxonomy it is also possible to add documents, video, audio and images to both the Accession and the Taxa.

We consider mapping to be a great tool to get an overview of your collection. Our Mapping module is integrated so that you don’t have to use complicated mapping tools to get started. You can use free map providers, but it is of course also possible to integrate your own maps and use IrisBG in combination with other specialist mapping software.

Tracking

The second aspect I want to mention is the importance of Tracking the changes that occur in the collection over time. You have the possibility to create task lists and run various reports to document the status of the collection. For instance, at Polly Hill they performed a Gap analysis using a map report to clearly see which regions that were underrepresented in their collection. They are also tracking their propagation of wild collected seeds.

Sharing

The last aspect I want to mention is the Sharing of your collection data. With IrisBG you can submit your data to BGCI, GBIF, GGBN or other organizations. You can also share seeds and plants with other gardens and last but not least, with our Garden Explorer you can share your collection with the public – including creating Tours that can be used for educational purposes.

To learn more on how IrisBG can be used to achieve excellence in Biodiversity & Conservation, you are welcome to get in touch with us. I can also recommend to contact Polly Hill Arboretum and their Plant Recorder Liz Thomas who has been greatly involved in getting their recognition. You can also read about how they have incorporated their new best practices (APGA).