Joining hands in conserving earth’s plant riches

Extinction is forever – something that happens to several plant species each year. They disappear without any chance of being replaced, many before their potential to help us has been fully assessed. The urgency of plant conservation was brought home to me after my interactions with Hugh Pritchard, who heads the Research, Seed Conservation and  Senior Science Group in Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

I have been privileged to get a fair amount of understanding of Kew’s science and conservation work with these regular interactions with Hugh and his colleagues including a visit to Kew Gardens last summer. The good news is that Kew has teamed up with India’s National Bureau of Plant Genetic  Resources (NBPGR) for a long-term partnership in research and human resources development. This involves Indian and international institutions in various aspects of plant conservation biology. As part of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), NBPGR is the nodal agency for the plant genetic resources activities in India. They recently held two week international training Course on Plant Conservation Biology: Science and Practice from 1-14 March in NBPGR, Delhi had faculty from both Kew and India participating. We invited Rahul from India and Lhab from Bhutan, two of the trainees on the course, to share their experience…

‘Nature’s resources are gifts wrapped for the world to enjoy’, explains Dr. Krishna Kumar (DDG, Horticulture) of ICAR during his opening remarks at the International Training Course on “Plant Conservation Biology; Science and Practice”. Realizing the rapid loss of these gifts and the need for collaborative action, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the  NBPGR organized this specialized two-week course from 1-14 March, 2013 to develop the capacities of people working in the field of plant conservation.

Over the duration of these two weeks, the course gathered 18 of us from 10 different countries (mainly Asian) all belonging to diverse cultures and work backgrounds. Incidentally, what started off as formal discussion at the beginning of the course soon became informal lengthy conversation; brewing novel ideas to take back home and reproduce in our respective workplaces.

The training was led by a group of experienced and learned scientists who outlined the processes and systems of conservation. In fact, the entire course was loaded with an array of lectures and practical sessions that left no room for boredom amongst the young enthusiastic bunch of us. Even more, on two occasions we had the unique opportunity of out-of-class visits; one to the Taj Mahal at Agra and another to the Yamuna Biodiversity Park, a man made ecological sanctuary. They both were jaw-dropping sights and secretly reminded us of the richness of diversity both culturally and biologically.

All the participants expressed the benefit of such trainings as they generated a wealth of knowledge exchange. Our many thanks go out to every individual who made this course happen.

Antao Rahul Mark (India)
Lhab Tshering (Bhutan)