More than 4,500 Rare and Endangered Plants Facing Extinction in North America
Leading Plant Conservationists Meet in San Diego to Find Solution
Conservation professionals from more than 42 members of the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), a network of participating botanic gardens and plant conservation organizations throughout the United States – including Botanic Gardens Conservation International, U.S. – met at the San Diego Zoo Global May 4-6, 2017, to share and learn from each other the cutting-edge science and technology used to save rare and endangered flora.
About 4,500 of the roughly 18,500 species of plants in the U.S. and Canada are considered to be of conservation concern, with almost 1,000 of them either listed under the federal Endangered Species Act or qualified for listing. Without human intervention, many of them will be gone within the next few decades. The CPC and its partnering institutions have become known world-wide as the leaders in saving endangered plants.
“Participants in this year’s meeting not only represent the leading expert in plant conservation in the country, but the world”, said John Clark, Ph.D. CEO and President of Center for Plant Conservation. “Through this effort, more endangered plants have a chance at survival.”
