BGCI has launched a new database – ThreatSearch. ThreatSearch is the most comprehensive database of conservation assessments of plants. It contains over 242,000 conservation assessments, representing over 150,000 taxa.

ThreatSearch lists global, regional and national conservation assessments for plants, from a variety of sources. The aim is for ThreatSearch to be a one-stop shop to find conservation assessments for plants. Together with our two main collaborators - the National Red List (www.nationalredlist.org) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (www.kew.org) - we have assembled currently available conservation assessments into a single list of conservation assessments for plants. We are continuing to add new conservation assessments, as well as adding older non-digital sources. 

You can search for your species of interest, and also filter on scope, threatened status and year of the assessments. More refined search capacity will be available in the member’s only area later on in the year. Species names have been matched to The Plant List (www.plantlist.org) wherever possible. The source of the assessment is indicated, and when available a URL link will take you to the original source of the information.

ThreatSearch can be used to measure progress toward several targets of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. First and foremost, by listing all conservation assessments for plants it helps to track progress towards  Target 2 (an assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, as far as possible, to guide conservation action). ThreatSearch will further help to measure Target 7 (At least 75 per cent of known threatened plant species conserved in situ) and Target 8 (At least 75 per cent of threatened plant species in ex situ collections, preferably in the country of origin, and at least 20 per cent available for recovery and restoration programmes).

ThreatSearch also aims to be directly relevant to conservationists, educators, horticulturists, living collection managers, researchers, policy makers and many others who are working to save and understand plant diversity.

If you would like to contribute any missing conservation assessments, please let us know (redlist@bgci.org)