Why and How to Make Plant Conservation Ecosystem-Based

Compared to other groups of organisms, plants require distinctive approaches in their conservation because of their keystone roles in ecosystems and economies. The state of the whole plant cover of the Earth should be of concern to conservationists – for its capacity to ensure the survival of plant species, deliver ecosystem services (locally to globally) and provide produce from plants in ecologically sustainable ways. The primary targets of attention in ecosystem-based plant conservation are the relationships between people and plants, as relevant to every locality, rather than the species-centric approach of conventional plant conservation. Moving plant conservation to an ecosystem-based approach will require the development of training programmes for field practitioners and of information systems for their use.