Wednesday 18 September 2024 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Main Seminar Room, David Attenborough Building
About
Understanding the global diversity of utilised plants to preserve biodiversity's contributions to people
Adopted by 196 countries in December 2022, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) sets out an ambitious plan for a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. This includes 23 targets focused on mainstreaming tools and solutions to reduce threats to biodiversity while meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing. Global plant diversity sustains human life and is thus central to achieving those targets; however, plant species used by people are largely overlooked in the monitoring framework for the GBF. This is partly due to the lack of a global documentation and understanding of the diversity, distribution, and conservation status of utilized plant species. Based on previous work conducted at RBG Kew on building a “World Checklist of Useful Plants”, a recent assessment of the global distribution of utilized plant diversity (Pironon, Ondo, et al. 2024 Science) and an ongoing unpublished study predicting the extent to which plant diversity could be used by people, my presentation will shed light on a vital facet of biodiversity and its contributions to humanity.
Previously working at UNEP-WCMC and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Dr Samuel Pironon is now a lecturer in Conservation Biology at Queen Mary University of London. Trained as a macroecologist, Sam has largely investigated the determinants of species distribution and their potential responses to global change. More recently, his research has focused on understanding the diversity, distribution, conservation, and sustainable use of species, with a particular interest in plants, especially those used for food.
Photo credit: Alex Hudson, Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Zoom link will be available closer to the time. Please note that you will only be sent the link on the day of the seminar.