Introduction

The title of the congress ‘Action Learning: places, spaces and partnerships for biodiversity and human wellbeing' encapsulates the dynamic and relevant role of botanic gardens today. In just 20 years botanic gardens have moved from being passive deliverers of information to leading institutions for plant-based education. Programmes are informative, innovative and fun, inspiring children and adults alike to connect with plants and make changes to their lives for conservation and sustainability.Botanic gardens reach over 200 million visitors a year which, by anyone's standards, is an impressive size audience. However, with the world population now over 6.7 billion people and growing, the reality is that botanic gardens reach just a fraction of people with their messages. The pressures on the environment are also mounting day by day and plants are literally under siege. We urgently need to build new partnerships at every level and scale up our efforts. As scientific institutions, we know the dangers facing humanity if we continue to lose plant diversity at the current rate. This congress is about how we effectively communicate this to the public through our education and public awareness programmes in a way that empowers rather than disempowers people to take action.

Achieving the GSPC and MDGs through education

Progress in achieving Target 14 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) was reported at a scientific meeting of the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Paris in 2007. The report also stated that many of the activities were undertaken by the conservation, environmental and development non‑governmental organisations, suggesting that insufficient action was happening in the formal sector and elsewhere, for example in the media. This finding was born out in a series of Target 14 national meetings held during 2006 in Brazil, China, Indonesia, Russia, UK and the USA where there was an overriding consensus about the lack of communication, education and public awareness of plant diversity and its conservation. Botanic gardens are leading the way in this field and will showcase their work at the congress where we will examine how we can scale up effective programmes and continue this critical work post 2010.

Botanic gardens also have a role to play in supporting their governments to implement all eight of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). When it comes to understanding the natural resource needs and challenges of local communities such as poverty, environmental sustainability, maternal health and infectious diseases such as HIV and Malaria, botanic gardens have a wealth of knowledge and experience. Through sharing best practice we can build our capacity to expand our reach and work with communities to find new solutions that benefits humans and their environment.

Ways of learning towards environmental justice

For millions of people around the world, a degraded natural environment is synonymous with hunger and poverty. Environmental justice links social and environmental concerns and deals with inequities that result in environmental degradation. Learning involves analysing and questioning traditional power structures that cause unequal access to natural resources such as food, medicines, clean water - even spaces for recreation. Most botanic gardens work with their local communities but to what extent do their programmes facilitate learning for environmental justice? We will discuss this question and explore how botanic gardens can keep social justice in mind when developing their education programmes.

Climate change and botanic gardens: interpretation for action

The anthropogenic dynamic of global climate change requires an urgent human response to the environmental crisis that we, and future generations, are facing. Fundamental to the delivery of this response are effective education and public awareness initiatives. In a report on Climate Change and Plants, that was published by BGCI in May 2007, it was stated that programmes should focus on encouraging and empowering people to:

1. take a systemic approach to understanding their environment;
2. reduce their individual and collective carbon emissions to mitigate climate change impacts; and,
3. learn how to adapt to the climate change effects that are already being felt.

This congress will showcase some of the excellent public awareness and education programmes focusing on climate change and plants. Through discussion we will examine how botanic gardens can take collaborative actions for addressing climate change at a global level.

The Decade of ESD: plants, sustainability, education and culture

The goal of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which runs from 2005-2014, is to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning. Botanic gardens are excellent sites for ESD which attempts to represent the complex and dynamic relationships between the natural and social sciences. Presentations will challenge us to think about how our education programmes can incorporate pedagogical methods that help people address both the environmental and development issues of the 21st century.