Objective 1:
Understanding and documenting
plant diversity

If the steady decline of plant diversity is to be halted, a thorough understanding of the European flora is needed. This must include full listing and assessment of our wild plants, their abundance, and monitoring of change in their distribution and status.

Until recently, effort has focused on documenting rare species threatened with extinction: those restricted in range or numbers.

Nearly all European countries now have national lists of threatened plants. The first List of Threatened Plants in Europe (IUCN SSC, 1977) covered only vascular plants. It is in urgent need to be revised, as it is crucial to help to prioritise plant conservation action. Equivalent lists are also needed for lichens, fungi and algae (the Red Data Book of European Bryophytes was published in 1995).

It is now recognised that the focus on our rarest species reveals only part of the biodiversity decline. The reduction in abundance and range of many more numerous and widespread species is as much an expression of overall biodiversity loss as the increasing numbers of threatened species. This particularly affects plants inhabiting specialised and threatened habitats such as the heathlands in northern Europe and alpine pastures in central Europe.

A new approach to biodiversity conservation has therefore been developed during the past 10 years: the identification and documentation of areas that are particularly important for the diversity of different taxa. At a global level, 'centres of plant diversity' or 'hotspots for plants' have been identified. In order to obtain information on the regional geographic scale, suitable for the planning and implementation of concrete conservation action, a programme has been developed to identify Important Plant Areas (IPAs).

The three objectives of the European IPA programme are:

• to identify, within each biogeographical zone, the most important sites for the conservation of plants (through standardised and numerical data);
  
• to promote awareness of the importance and the need to conserve these sites;
  
• and to promote direct conservation action and funding towards these sites.

The Important Plant Areas programme in Europe is of great value for biodiversity conservation planning and monitoring.

Monitoring is essential to recognise and understand changes in plant diversity. It is therefore important to feed data on plant distribution and population development into monitoring schemes and databases.

Further information

Global Strategy for Plant Conservation - targets adopted by CBD COP 6:

• A widely accessible working list of known plant species, as a step towards a complete world flora
  
• A preliminary assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, at national, regional and international levels
  
• Development of models with protocols for plant conservation and sustainable use, based on research and practical experience

Suggested long term European action in the EPCS under this objective:

E1 Develop programmes to update national vascular plant red lists every 4-6 years, and prepare national lists of threatened bryophytes, lichens and macrofungi;

E2 Support the operational principle that national lists should use 1994 IUCN Red List categories to indicate threat status of individual species (this does not preclude additional use of national systems);

E3 Carry out bilateral action between neighbouring countries to harmonise their lists taxonomically and to assist each other as appropriate;

E4 Provide external assistance where necessary for the above three points, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries;

E5 Produce reports on the action being taken by Bern Convention Parties for the plants listed in the Bern Convention present within their territories;

E6 Establish regular monitoring of the status of threatened plants on Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive;

E7 Provide international assistance for the identification of Important Plant Areas, especially in Central and East European countries;

E8 Encourage, in each country, botanical societies or national botanical institutes to compile atlases showing the decline of wild plants, for all species or a small range of species in order to indicate important trends;

E9 Consider the compilation of "Pink Books", showing the next tier of species below threatened status;

E10 Help conservation bodies in their efforts to build up volunteer networks to assist research and monitoring programmes for wild plants (e.g. arable flowers in field margins).