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Despite the massive efforts that have been made to conserve plant diversity across the world during the past few decades, it is becoming increasingly evident that our current strategies are not sufficiently effective to prevent the continuing decline in biodiversity. As a recent report by the CBD indicates, current progress and commitments are insufficient to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020. Threatened species lists continue to grow while the world's governments fail to meet biodiversity conservation goals. Clearly, we are failing in our attempts to conserve biodiversity on a sufficient scale. The reasons for this situation are complex, including scientific, technical, sociological, economic and political factors. The conservation community is divided about how to respond. Some believe that saving all existing biodiversity is still an achievable goal. On the other hand, there are those who believe that we need to accept that biodiversity will inevitably continue to be lost, despite all our conservation actions and that we must focus on what to save, why and where. It has also been suggested that we need a new approach to conservation in the face of the challenges posed by the Anthropocene biosphere which we now inhabit. Whatever view one holds on the above issues, it is clear that we need to review the effectiveness of our current conservation strategies, identify the limiting factors that are preventing the Aichi goals being met and at the same time take whatever steps are necessary to make our conservation protocols more explicit, operational and efficient so as to achieve the maximum conservation effect. This paper addresses the key issues that underlie our failure to meet agreed targets and discusses the necessary changes to our conservation approaches. While we can justifiably be proud of our many achievements and successes in plant conservation in the past 30 years, which have helped slow the rate of loss, unless we devise a more coherent, consistent and integrated global strategy in which both the effectiveness and limitations of our current policies, action plans and procedures are recognized, and reflect this in national strategies, and then embark on a much bolder and ambitious set of actions, progress will be limited and plant diversity will continue to decline. Keywords: Plant conservation, Anthropocene, Aichi targets, Biodiversity governance, Protected areas

The conservation of plant species in situ is a complex and multifaceted procedure which involves both the maintenance and management of protected areas and actions targeted at the species and population level. Most effort has been aimed so far at the occurrence and persistence of species in protected areas as a measure of conservation. However, species-level actions such as conservation or recovery plans have been undertaken for only a small percentage of threatened plant species, mostly by a few countries. The reasons for this are complex and involve scientific, social and political considerations. The planning of targets for biodiversity conservation in situ by the Convention on Biological Diversity suffers from a failure to coordinate area-based and species-based actions leading to overlap and confusion. A set of recommendations is given to help remedy the neglect of targeted species conservation.

Ethnopharmacological relevance It is becoming increasingly clear that ethnopharmacology cannot be disassociated from food production, human nutrition and the conservation of the biodiversity that constitutes its resource base. Aim of the study This paper aims to provide a perspective of ethnopharmacology that explicitly extends the range of disciplines it covers so as to embrace food and nutrition and the biodiversity basis, both wild and agricultural, and also places it in the context of the dramatic changes to our planet that we are experiencing during a period of rapid global change and the impacts that these changes are having on human health and nutrition and on its resource base. Materials and methods A review is made of recent initiatives and developments that show linkages between ethnopharmacology, agriculture, food production, nutrition and biodiversity conservation. Results Ethnopharmacology, biodiversity, agriculture, food and nutrition are inextricably linked but suffer from compartmentalization and a lack of communication which have to be overcome if progress is to be made. Fortunately, a convergence of interest between the agricultural biodiversity and the biodiversity conservation sectors has emerged in recent years and there is an increased appreciation of the need to adopt a wider approach to human nutrition than the conventional agricultural model allows; there is also a greater awareness of the important role played by diversity of crops, especially local species, and consumption of wild species in achieving balanced nutrition. An increased recognition of the key role of local communities in managing agricultural biodiversity is evident. While ethnopharmacologists have expressed concern at the relentless loss of biodiversity, there has been little direct involvement but it is perhaps now time to consider a more proactive role. Attention is also drawn to the need to assess the implications of global change for ethnopharmacology. Conclusions Ethnopharmacologists need to take much more cognizance of the fate of the resource base – the plants, animals and microorganisms – and of the actions being undertaken under the auspices of treaties, such as the Conservation on Biological Diversity and its Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, to counter its degradation and loss. In addition, they should play a more active role in determining the actions needed to assess, monitor and conserve the resource base. Although it has been suggested that the ‘golden days’ of ethnopharmacology may be over, it is proposed that by embracing the challenges of broadening the remit so as to include the health aspects of wild biodiversity employed in nutrition, a new ‘golden age’ beckons. The paper concludes with some suggestions for action.

In light of the growing concern over the potentially devastating impacts on biodiversity and food security of climate change and the massively growing world population, taking action to conserve crop wild relatives (CWR), is no longer an option — it is a priority. Crop wild relatives are species closely related to crops, including their progenitors, many of which have the potential to contribute beneficial traits to crops, such as pest or disease resistance, yield improvement or stability. They are a critical component of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), have already made major contributions to crop production and are vital for future food security; their systematic conservation in ways that ensure their continuing availability for use is therefore imperative. This is a complex, interdisciplinary, global issue that has been addressed by various national and international initiatives. Drawing on the lessons learnt from these initiatives we can now propose a global approach to CWR conservation, the key elements of which are: (1) estimating global CWR numbers, (2) assessment of the global importance of CWR diversity, (3) current conservation status, (4) threats to CWR diversity, (5) systematic approaches to CWR conservation, (6) CWR informatics, and (7) enhancing the use of CWR diversity.

One of the consequences of global change, especially demographic and climatic, will be a demand for novel plant germplasm of all kinds suited to the new ecoclimatic conditions predicted and plant introduction will assume a new importance. As a consequence, botanic gardens will face an unprecedented opportunity to regain their role as introduction centres and become major actors in the assessment of new germplasm, both of ornamentals as well as other economically important plants. Plant introduction has remained largely unchanged over the past 400 years and is as often ad hoc, poorly organized and insufficiently collaborative, but if it is to meet the needs of today’s situation it needs to be overhauled. In particular: (1) the basis of plant introduction needs to be broadened; (2) closer cooperation with agricultural genebanks should be established; (3) agreement should be reached between botanic gardens and the agricultural sector on their respective responsibilities (4) the quality and sampling of the accessions should be more strictly controlled; (5) proper evaluation of the introductions before they are disseminated; (6) information on the accessions of introduced plants and their fate needs to be more effectively maintained and disseminated; and (7) full cognizance should be taken of policies to protect against invasive species and care should be taken to evaluate the risks that new introductions might represent. Finally, consideration should be given to preparing a set of guidelines or even a code of conduct for plant introductions by botanic gardens in association with other agencies.

Conservation of crop wild relatives (CWRs) is a complex interdisciplinary process that is being addressed by various national and international initiatives, including two Global Environment Facility projects ('In situ Conservation of Crop Wild Relatives through Enhanced Information Management and Field Application' and 'Design, Testing and Evaluation of Best Practices for in situ Conservation of Economically Important Wild Species'), the European Community-funded project 'European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum (PGR Forum)' and the European 'In situ and On Farm Network'. The key issues that have arisen are: (1) the definition of what constitutes a CWR, (2) the need for national and regional information systems and a global system, (3) development and application of priority-determining mechanisms, (4) the incorporation of the conservation of CWRs into existing national, regional and international PGR programmes, (5) assessment of the effectiveness of conservation actions, (6) awareness of the importance of CWRs in agricultural development at local, national and international levels both for the scientific and lay communities and (7) policy development and legal framework. The above issues are illustrated by work on the conservation of a group of legumes known as grasspea chicklings, vetchlings, and horticultural ornamental peas (Lathyrus spp.) in their European and Mediterranean centre of diversity.

A review is given of the major conceptual changes that have taken place during the last 50 years in our understanding of the nature of plant conservation and of the principal methodological advances in undertaking conservation assessments and actions, largely through the incorporation of tools and techniques from other disciplines. The interrelationships between conservation and sustainable use are considered as well as the impact of the development of the discipline of conservation biology, the effects of the general acceptance of the concept of biodiversity and the practical implications of the implementation of the Convention on Biological diversity. The effect on conservation policy and management of the accelerating loss or conversion of habitats throughout the world and approaches for combating this are discussed.

In this paper, I address both the wider issues that affect floristic studies today and how they are likely to develop in the future, and the special problems that concern the Mediterranean region in particular. A survey of published floristic studies is given for the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and the desirability of applying electronic web-based preparation and publication of floristic and taxonomic projects is considered, with special reference to the Euro + Med PlantBase project. A new paradigm for taxonomy, and a plan of action for Mediterranean floristic studies are proposed.

Summary - An overview of man's current efforts to preserve plant diversity, both through in situ and ex situ conservation, is presented. Several approaches are reviewed, such as the IUCN Biodiversity Conservation Strategy, IUCN Protected Areas Program, Botanic Gardens Conservation Secretariat, the Centers for Plant Diversity and the Rapid Assessment Program.