Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia Meeting

[Emily Coffey]

Dear All,

Atlanta Botanical Garden and BGCI are excited to launch the Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia, one of the global conservation consortia being developed for various plant groups by BGCI.

Magnolia, a genus of about 320 species, are widely appreciated around the world for their ornamental qualities and as sources of medicines and timber. However, many are also imperiled. Published in 2016, The Red List of Magnoliaceae concluded that 47% of Magnolia species are threatened with extinction in the wild. As some species of Magnolia have been found to be ‘exceptional’ or unable to be conserved via traditional seedbanking practices, living collections are a critical tool within the integrated conservation of the group. The goal of the Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia is to mobilize a coordinated network of institutions who work collaboratively to develop and implement a comprehensive conservation strategy to prevent extinction of the world’s Magnolia species.

There are many ways to be involved in the GCC Magnolia via a number of roles: Consortium Lead (held by Atlanta Botanical Garden), Consortium Steering Committee (CSC), Species Champions, Safe Sites, and Affiliates. Please see the attached “Global Conservation Consortia Roles and Responsibilities” document to learn more about each tier of GCCM membership and to identify the level at which you would like to participate.

As consortium lead, we are contacting you because you or your institution have previously expressed interest in joining the consortium or your institution would be a great contributor to conserving threatened Magnolia species globally. We are inviting institutions to join at all membership levels including Steering Committee leadership roles; Species Champions and Safe Site roles to develop coordinated, strategic living collections of high conservation value and supporting Affiliate members.

Using recently published resources such as the 2016 Red List of Magnoliaceae, the GCCM has the major goal to build a network and capacity within the global botanic garden community to identify, prioritize and conserve the world’s threatened Magnolia species. In the near future we aim to identify partners in different roles, conduct Red List assessments of recently described and previously unassessed species, and gather data for an ex situ gap analysis of threatened Magnolia species. This work will further lead to the identification of priority species and development of coordinated metacollections within the consortia. 

 We will be hosting two online meetings of the GCCM to provide more information about the consortium structure, answer questions from attendees and discuss future activities. We invite you to attend the meeting which is most suitable for your timezone as we aim to reach a global audience. Both meetings will cover the same material and recordings will be circulated following the sessions. Please click the links below to register for the meeting in order to get a link to join: 

Meeting: September 28th @ 12 pm EDT: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUofuytrjIpE9S2Ef6pRtqcQtvBNcjOPpnt

Meeting: September 30th @ 10 pm EDT: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkdOCuqz4sHtTPDVkvrheFDOIvJWAyK2hb

If you are interested in joining the Global Conservation Consortium for Magnolia or have any questions you can contact me, Jean Linsky or Dr. Emily Coffey, Vice President of Conservation and Research (ecoffey@atlantabg.org). Please also feel free to share this information and invitation with colleagues in your networks, who may also be interested in joining the consortium.

Best,

Emily Coffey & Jean Linsky

[Author]

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