UBC Botanical Garden staff members Brendan, Dee Ann, Ben, and Tara at the APGA Annual Conference.
In 2024, staff from UBC Botanical Garden attended a series of conferences to explore the latest trends, innovations, and challenges in the botanic garden world. The goal? To bring back fresh insights and ideas that we can apply to our work at UBC Botanical Garden and in our region.
This blog offers a snapshot of six international conferences and symposia that the Garden participated in throughout 2024. Each event brought its own unique theme, deepening our understanding of the evolving landscape of botanic gardens. The takeaways from these gatherings will shape the initiatives we pursue at UBC Botanical Garden and guide our planning and decisions for the year ahead.
Continue reading to discover the key trends shaping the future of botanic gardens!
APGA Annual Conference in Boston, Massachusetts
The APGA Annual Conference gathers botanic garden staff from across North America. This year’s theme, “Rooted in Resilience: A Sustainable Future for Gardens,” focused on sustainable practices and empowering the next generation of environmental stewards. It was a vibrant opportunity to explore how botanic gardens can lead the way in fostering resilience and sustainability for the future.
Takeaways:
- Gardens as Public Health Providers: Botanic gardens through their curated spaces and landscapes provide critical access to nature for communities across urban and rural landscapes.
- Closing the Loop in Gardens: Many gardens are using innovative ways to manage carbon and natural resources in their spaces like composting programs.
- Climate-Ready Gardens: Across North America, botanic gardens are facing significant climate impacts and there are many examples of action underway across collections, education, research and infrastructure upgrades.
BGCI in Singapore
8GBGC revolved around the theme “Botanic Gardens – People and Plants for a Sustainable Future”. The 8GBGC centered on how botanic gardens can innovate in research, conservation, education, and outreach to meet their sustainability goals.
Takeaways:
- Leading in Climate Change: Botanic gardens are adapting to climate change by rethinking plant choices and priorities, positioning themselves as hubs of innovation, community engagement and expertise.
- Sustainable Cities: Singapore showcases cities that prioritize nature, with plants integrated everywhere—trees on buildings, tropical plants in elevators, and urban forests for all residents to enjoy.
- Collaborative Conservation: Botanic gardens hold 1/3 of the world’s plant species, yet plant diversity is slipping through our fingers. Initiatives like the Million Orchid project are engaging communities in local conservation efforts.
UBC Botanical Garden Associate Director, Tara Moreau, co-presented along with an international botanic garden panel on the critical need for food plant diversity conservation.
APGA Education Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah
The APGA Education Symposium, held bi-annually, brings together educational staff from botanic gardens across North America. This year’s theme, “Education Elevated: Cultivating Transformative Experiences,” focused on fostering deep connections with nature and exploring how these connections can lead to lasting transformations.
Takeaways:
- Accessibility Opportunities: Many APGA gardens are innovating to respond to accessibility limitations in their spaces —whether physical barriers, geographic distance, or financial constraints—with the goal of creating inclusive experiences in nature.
- The Rise of Interpretive Plans: Interpretive planning is on the rise, with gardens either starting or refining plans to tackle interpretation challenges and innovate new solutions. Coming soon to UBC Botanical Garden in 2025…..
- Variety in Educational Programming: Offering diverse educational programs for different ages and interests not only attracts new visitors but also enhances the experience for returning guests.
Photo Credit: Kristan Jacobsen
UBC Botanical Garden staff member Rhiannon (center) with botanic garden colleagues attending an accessibility workshop at the APGA Education Symposium
Crop Wild Relative Symposium in Denver, Colorado
The Crop Wild Relatives Symposium brought together experts from botanic gardens, gene banks, Indigenous communities, and government research institutions to discuss strategies for conserving crop wild relatives (CWRs) and wild-utilized plants in North America.
Takeaways:
- Indigenous-Led Conservation: The symposium began with an all-day Indigenous-led learning circle where lived experiences and perspectives were shared bringing together knowledge holders from across North America.
- Conservation Needs: Communities across North America have mapped the distribution of crop wild relatives. UBC Botanical Garden, with grad student Jens Ulrich, shared our work from Canada and contributed to updating a conservation strategy for North America.
- Food Plant Relatives & Climate Future: North America is home to many native food plants and food plant relatives. These plants are critical genetic resources for future agriculture and breeding work.
Indigenous-led learning circle lead by the Flowerhill Institute brought together knowledge holders across to understand the needs of Indigenous communities.
APGA Plant Collections Symposium in Chicago, Illinois
The APGA Plant Collections Symposium draws collections and research staff from botanic gardens across North America. The theme of this year’s conference was “Purposeful Plant Collections in a Changing World” and focused on implementing new technologies in plant records and adapting our objectives and methods in collections development and curation.
Takeaways:
- Plant Conservation & Collection Management: Gardens are aligning with conservation by developing dynamic collection plans and static collection policies to ensure sustainable, relevant collections focused on genetic diversity and climate change.
- Tech-Driven Data Collection & Collaboration: Gardens are embracing new tools for data capture, visualization, and mapping, improving fieldwork and enabling stronger collaborations on research and conservation projects.
- Improved Curatorial Practices & Documentation: Gardens are prioritizing accurate plant records, addressing historical gaps, and participating in reaccreditation processes like the Plant Collections Network to ensure collections are well-documented and preserved.
Facilities at Chicago Botanic Garden.
COP16 in Cali, Columbia
At COP 16, under the theme “Peace with Nature,” progress was made on monitoring frameworks for the Global Biodiversity Framework and the fair sharing of benefits from digital sequence information on genetic resources.
Takeaways:
- Global Plant Conservation: The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) was adopted and now aligns the efforts of botanic gardens with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
- Indigenous Knowledge & Partnerships: The importance of Indigenous knowledge, data sovereignty, and partnerships in biodiversity conservation was highlighted, alongside the need for legal frameworks reflecting societal values.
- Scaling Solutions & Technology: The conference emphasized using scalable solutions and technology—AI, big data, and mapping tools—for effective and inclusive conservation and restoration.
Cali Botanic Garden in Colombia was the site of the launch of the Global Biodiversity Standard.
Written by Rhiannon Lewis
Education and Engagement Programming Assistant
UBC Botanical Garden