4th Mediterranean Plant Conservation Week

Marimurtra attended the 4th Mediterranean Plant Conservation Week in the Botanical Garden of Valencia. It is a congress intended to share and exchange knowledge with other organizations, entities and projects that work on the conservation and increase of the biodiversity of Mediterranean climate plants.

The congress program addressed topics such as the conservation of flora in Mediterranean habitats, the preservation of the seed bank and germplasm of species for future use, the reintegration of species in situ and ex situ, the analysis and actions in relation to invasive species for habitat restoration, the international cooperation network for the conservation of Mediterranean flora and tools for education, dissemination and communication of plant conservation.

Entities from different countries have participated in the congress, such as Cyprus, Malta, Portugal, Italy, Armenia, Lebanon, Serbia, Cape Verde, Greece, among others.

Pere Fraga, botanical conservator of Marimurtra, presented a micro-conference on the conservation of Menorcan flora and a poster on ‘Threatened coastal plant species of Catalonia: improving knowledge and ex situ conservation’ (see the poster here), while Anna Sans , scientific popularizer of Marimurtra, presented a poster on ‘A botanical garden and a wide variety of audiences, a commitment to the public and the promotion of scientific vocations. The case of the school public’ (see the poster here).

The presence of Marimurtra in these congresses is of great importance, as it opens the doors to international cooperation, one of the fundamental objectives of the Carl Faust Foundation, and brings new approaches to the task of conserving the biodiversity of species. In addition, it allows to publicize the conservation, research and dissemination work carried out by the Marimurtra Botanical Garden.

During the congress, a day was held to discuss the different strategies aimed at disseminating scientific research to citizens and making them participate in the conservation of plant biodiversity, as well as focusing on their own values or creating them new in relation to this current.

The Forestry Research and Experimentation Center (CIEF) and the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia are mainly responsible for the organization of this 4th edition, in close collaboration with some units of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Fund for the Critical Ecosystem Association (CEPF).