Seminar: Mobilising Botanic Gardens for Global Plant Conservation and Biosecurity: The Work of BGCI and the International Plant Sentinel Network

Botanic gardens collectively hold an estimated 30–40% of known plant diversity in their living collections, making them one of the most powerful yet under-utilised resources for applied conservation biology and plant health research. This seminar introduces the work of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and its International Plant Sentinel Network (IPSN), highlighting their contributions to global plant biodiversity conservation and plant health surveillance.

BGCI’s conservation programmes include global tree assessments, ex situ and in situ conservation initiatives, threatened species data management, and capacity-building across its network of member gardens worldwide. Central to this work is BGCI’s leadership of the Global Tree Assessment, which has revealed that over 30% of the world’s approximately 60,000 tree species are threatened with extinction—a finding with significant implications for forest ecosystem resilience, species distributions, and the future of forested landscapes under climate change.

Since 2013, BGCI has coordinated the International Plant Sentinel Network, which operationalises the sentinel plant concept by using botanic garden living collections as early-warning systems for emerging pests and pathogens. Exotic plant species grown outside their native ranges can reveal damaging organisms that may become invasive if introduced into those native regions. Through international collaboration and data sharing on priority pests and pathogens affecting ecologically and economically important plants, the IPSN supports the development of a global early-warning system for plant health threats.

This presentation will outline how BGCI and the IPSN are helping to build the international infrastructure needed to anticipate, detect, and respond to emerging plant health risks, and will explore the broader potential of botanic garden networks as partners in conservation science and phytosanitary research.

Dr Lara Salido is the Plant Health Manager at Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and coordinator of the International Plant Sentinel Network (IPSN). She specialises in plant health and biosecurity initiatives connecting botanic gardens, arboreta, plant health researchers, and National Plant Protection Organisations across the IPSN’s global network. Her work focuses on developing and coordinating sentinel surveillance initiatives, creating training and monitoring resources, and strengthening international capacity for plant biosecurity. Operating at the intersection of conservation horticulture, applied plant pathology, and plant health policy, she promotes the unique scientific value of living plant collections to support actionable intelligence for plant health authorities, biosecurity knowledge exchange, and plant health research worldwide.