Lead Organisations

The European Plant Conservation Strategy (EPCS) gives a concise roadmap on how to halt the loss of plant diversity in Europe. It was developed in agreement with all key partners at the Planta Europa Conference in 2001.

Many targets, however, need to be implemented on the national scale and by players outside the network.

The system for implementing the important targets is simple: Each target has an allocated lead organisation that volunteered to drive developments to implement this target and to collect information on activities and progress.

These target leads are taking on the additional work voluntarily, because they feel that this system might work to achieve a better overall cooperation.

What is a lead organisation?

Lead organisations are a crucial link between the theoretical strategy outlining policies and goals, and on the ground activities to save Europe's wild plants.

The main function of the target lead organisation is to champion the implementation of the target and to act as a focal point for activities. This often includes liasing with other key partners through the region, and the Planta Europa Secretariat.

To summarise: it is not necessarily the lead organisation carrying out all the activities to implement a target. This is the responsibility of all partners, Network members, national governments and the EU.

Leads are, however, developing ideas, driving activities and cooperating with others on how to progress in this particular field.

To aim towards a synchronised work between the partner organisations, it is important to have a work plan and a clear division of responsibilities between the involved parties. The lead organisation system has proven effective in many cases in working towards target implementation.

For a progress report on the implementation of the EPCS click:

Mid-term review or

Final Review.