UK Overseas Territories

Photo: Colin Clubbe

The UK Overseas Territories team is working to conserve Montserrat’s remaining plant biodiversity after devastating volcanic activity

Introduction

The UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) comprise 16 former colonies that have elected to retain their direct British links and as such form part of the nation state of the UK. Mostly islands, UKOTs support important UK biodiversity in terms of both species and habitats and are covered under the UK’s commitments to Multilateral Environmental Agreements, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (RAMSAR). Many are under extreme pressure for development. Whilst rich in biodiversity many lack the resources needed to document their biodiversity and manage it sustainably. The recognition of the importance of UKOTs resulted in the formation of a UK Overseas Territories science team as part of the Science Strategy developed prior to the 2001 Science Audit. A key driver in our work with UKOTs is helping to build botanical capacity.

The UK Overseas Territories science team is a small multidisciplinary team concentrated in the Herbarium, but with strong links to the Jodrell, HPE, and the MSBP enabling it to draw upon wide ranging expertise to undertake conservation, and help build capacity in the Territories for the documentation, conservation assessment and management of botanical resources. Our overall aim is to work with our in-Territory partners to enable them to better understand and sustainably manage their plant diversity and so implement the CBD, the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) and their Environment Charter.

The vast majority of the UK’s unique biodiversity is not in the UK mainland, but in its Overseas Territories. The last remaining fragments of British overseas administration include some of the most remote and biologically interesting places on Earth. UKOTs have an extremely diverse variety of habitats ranging from ice fields and windswept rocky islands in the Antarctic to the pristine white beaches of tropical atolls, plus a wide diversity of tropical forest types. Because they are mostly small islands, they have a high rate of endemism across many taxa. At least 180 endemic species of plants, including endemic genera, 54 endemic birds, 39 endemic reptiles and amphibians and 685 endemic terrestrial invertebrates have already been described, but there are big gaps in our knowledge of the biodiversity in these Territories. Many UKOTs are archipelagos that include numerous uninhabited islands of great significance for biodiversity. The flora and fauna of these tiny remnants of the British Empire are a conservation priority on the global stage. Eight UKOTs are located within ‘biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities’ sensu Myers et al. 2000 (Caribbean, Mediterranean Basin and Polynesia/Micronesia). Two are World Heritage sites – Henderson Island (part of the Pitcairn group) and Gough and Inaccessible Islands (part of the Tristan da Cunha group).

Geographical location of the 16 UK Overseas Territories:

Geographical Location

UK Overseas Territory

Indian Ocean

British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) comprising the Chagos Archipelago and surrounding ocean (54,400 km2)

Mediterranean Basin

British Sovereign Air Bases on Cyprus

Gibraltar 

Pacific Ocean

Pitcairn Islands (Pitcairn, Henderson, Oeno, Ducie) 

South Atlantic

British Antarctic Territory

Falkland Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

St Helena

Ascension Island

Tristan da Cunha (including Nightingale, Gough and Inaccessible) 

Wider Caribbean

Anguilla

Bermuda

British Virgin Islands (BVI)

Cayman Islands

Montserrat

Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI)

 

The UK’s 16 Overseas Territories are diverse communities. They range from the tiny island of Pitcairn (7.5 km2), in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with its 54 inhabitants, to Bermuda (55 km2) in the western Atlantic Ocean with its population of 61,000 and which is one of the world’s major financial centres.

Background

Kew has been involved with UKOTs since the 18th century when the then patron and benefactor of Kew, Sir Joseph Banks, initiated Kew’s overseas collecting programme. In the 19th Century this was continued by Banks's successors, Sir William Hooker and his son Sir Joseph Hooker. The Library and Archives at Kew contain important collections of letters, reports and other documents relating to the status of habitats and plants within some of the present Overseas Territories.

Much of the earliest involvement revolved around the strategic location of St Helena. In 1787 a new garden was founded on St Helena as a repository for specimens, orchestrated by Kew, and managed by the Governor. Sir Joseph Banks pioneered the transfer of plants within the colonies, from species rich areas to species poor, often using St Helena as a midway point. The island was used as a convalescent home for plants being transported by ship from Australia, China and India. Many remained on the island, while others were re-potted and continued their journey on other ships. Sir Joseph Hooker, Kew’s second Director, visited Ascension Island, the Falkland Islands and St Helena in 1845, from where he compiled his Flora of the Falkland Islands. William Burchell was resident schoolmaster and acting botanist on St Helena from 1805 to 1810. Kew acquired his herbarium in 1865. Burchell was also a gifted artist and he completed many botanical sketches and watercolour drawings of St Helena landscapes. Burchell’s daughter gave Hooker these drawings in 1878, and Hooker gave them to Kew. They are an important archival collection of the island and its original vegetation. This tremendous wealth of historical literature and other information is a major data-repatriation challenge and opportunity for Kew and the UKOTs programme in the future.

Over the years the Living Collections at Kew continued to receive specimens from UKOTs and from expeditions to UKOTs, and the floras of Ascension, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat and St Helena are currently represented in the Living Collections. The Horticulture and Public Education Department (HPE) has been working on cultivation protocols for threatened species for many years using both conventional techniques and micropropagation. Much of the early development in this area was through working on the endemic flora of St Helena such as Trochetiopsis erythroxylon and T. ebenus. These activities are now part of a co-ordinated programme to identify key species, collect seeds for long-term banking, investigate genetic diversity and bring selected UKOTs species into displays in the living collections at Kew, in order to help raise awareness of the important biodiversity in these far-flung parts of the UK.

The 1999 White Paper, 'Partnership for Progress and Prosperity', set out the British Government’s policy for strengthening and modernising its relationship with the Overseas Territories, to take the partnership into the new Millennium. With respect to the environment, the White Paper stated that 'the common objective must be to use the environment of the Overseas Territories to provide benefits to the people in them, and to conserve our global heritage by managing sustainably all the Overseas Territories’ natural resources'. RBG Kew made significant inputs into the environmental aspects of the White Paper, mainly through its membership of the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF). The UKOTCF exists to promote the ‘co-ordinated conservation of the diverse and increasingly threatened plant and animal species and natural habitats of the UKOTs. It aims to do this by providing assistance in the form of expertise, information and liaison between non-governmental organisations and governments, both in the UK and in the Territories themselves’. RBG Kew is a founder member of the UKOTCF, which was established in 1987. UKOTs staff are represented on the Council and working groups of the UKOTCF.

To help address these sustainable development issues, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has developed Environment Charters to establish the action to be taken on implementing sound environmental management practices in UKOTs. Signed in 2001, the Environment Charters contain guiding principles which recognise the need for a healthy environment for the well-being of livelihoods, wise and equitable use of natural resources and solutions aimed at benefiting both the environment and development. To enable the Charters to be implemented the FCO and Department for International Development (DFID) launched a joint funding programme, the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP) in 2003.

RBG Kew is active in other areas of national and international policy by providing advice to the UK Government in areas concerning access to, and the use of and management of, plant resources in all their different forms. The Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are particularly important and have great impact on our activities. Not all Territories have enacted local legislation to enable the UK's ratification of CITES and CBD to be extended to the Territories. This is a high priority for the Government and Kew will do all it can to help implement this process.

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) is a particular focus for our work. The UKOTs were specifically excluded from the UK’s response to the Strategy and the publication of the 'Plant Diversity Challenge' in 2004. We are working with others to raise awareness of the GSPC within the Territories and to help develop an implementation strategy. Recent activities include a regional Caribbean workshop in 2006 (funded by Defra), a workshop at the UKOTs and Crown Dependencies Conference in Jersey in 2006, and we are seeking funding to develop a co-ordinated response from UKOTs along the lines of the Plant Diversity Challenge.

We are in regular contact with the FCO, Defra and DFID over UKOT matters either through our UKOTCF activities, OTEP involvement or directly on plant related conservation issues. This includes commenting on and developing strategy, for example the preparation of position papers and country reports for SBSTTA and CBD COPs as well as CITES COPs. We have also been asked to take part in the briefing and orientation of new Governors and senior staff going out to UKOTs to take up new posts, organised by the FCO. FCO staff also come out to Kew for away-day scenarios and we have hosted days for both the FCO Overseas Territories Department (2005) and for the FCO UKOT Biodiversity Team (2004).

SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS (2001 - 2005)

KEY ELEMENTS OF FUTURE PLANS (2006 onwards)

RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS (2001 - 2005)

Collections (2001-2005)

Since 2001 a collections programme has been initiated to support ongoing conservation work in the Overseas Territories. Collections comprise herbarium specimens, seed collections, plants, DNA and macro-fungi specimens.  

A new project, Developing a Species and Specimens Database for the UKOTs Programme, was started to document specimens held in the Herbarium. The process is underway to document and barcode all historical UKOTs specimens held in the Herbarium. Collections from current projects are barcoded and added as they come into the Herbarium. The database currently holds 1,434 specimen records with the oldest historical record being one of Burchell’s collections of Commidendron robustum subsp. robustum from St Helena in 1807.

Participants from the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) and Falkland Islands attended the 8-week Herbarium Techniques course at Kew in 2003 enabling them to undertake herbarium collecting programmes in their home Territories.

Systematic seed collection programmes concentrating on threatened species are underway in four Territories: BVI, St Helena, Ascension, and the Falkland Islands.  A training workshop was held in each Territory with seed collections being sent to the MSB at Wakehurst Place for long-term storage. Germination data and horticulture protocols for each species banked are repatriated to Territories on completion of tests. To date, collections of 68 species from six Territories (Ascension, Bermuda, BVI, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, and St Helena) have been banked at the Millennium Seed Bank.

DNA banking of the flora of South Georgia has been completed, and is the first flora to be fully banked (24 species). Key species from current Darwin projects are being collected for DNA extraction and banking.

150 fungal collections have been made in the British Virgin Islands.

Eleven threatened species from two Territories (BVI and Montserrat) have been brought into cultivation in-Territory and two of these also at Kew. For six of these species this is the first time in cultivation.

Baseline Plant Diversity Research (2001-2005)

The current knowledge of plant diversity in UKOTs is variable. In some Territories the flora is well known but in others knowledge is lacking or partial. Consequently our main focus has been to document plant species and undertake conservation assessments of their status in those Territories where this is a priority.

In BVI we completed the 3 year Darwin project Integrating National Parks, Education and Community Development (British Virgin Islands) (1998-2001). This included the production of checklists for two protected areas: Virgin Gorda National Park and the Anegada RAMSAR site. Checklists have been started for the islands of Great Tobago and Jost Van Dyke.

In Montserrat, as part of the Darwin project Enabling the People of Montserrat to Conserve the Centre Hills, a biodiversity assessment is underway and we have completed a botanical assessment of the 30 initial biodiversity assessment points.

In BVI as part of the Darwin Initiative Assessment of the Coastal Biodiversity of Anegada, an updated checklist with full conservation assessments for Anegada has been completed. This will be published in 2006.

In the TCI an initial assessment of the botanical diversity of East and Middle Caicos has been undertaken.

Comparative Plant Biology (2001-2005)

One of the components of James Richardson’s Kew-funded PhD (completed prior to the 2001 science audit) involved the use of St Helenan Rhamnaceae to date radiation of Phylica in S Africa leading to a publication in Nature during this period.

Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Resources (2001-2005)

No activity in this area during this period.

Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (2001-2005)

This is the major focus of the UKOTs programme and so has seen the greatest range of activities in current project activity, as well as in the provision of horticulture support, capacity building and policy advice for Territories.

The occurrence and distribution of invasive alien plants has been documented and their threats to various indigenous floras assessed. In Grand Cayman as part of the Darwin Initiative project an initial assessment has been made of the extent of the invasive species threat post Hurricane Ivan. A workshop was run in Bermuda to raise awareness and develop an action plan for dealing with invasive plant species, a major problem in Bermuda. Key invasive plant species were identified in Anegada, BVI and a programme of action instigated. An invasive species workshop was run at the UKOTs Conference in Bermuda in 2003 (see: www.ukotcf.org/pdf/BermConf/pages257to278.pdf) 

Threatened species have been identified, formal Red List assessments undertaken and action plans for conservation management developed. All assessments are available on the IUCN Red List website (www.redlist.org). A Status Report for the British Virgin Islands’ Plant Species Red List has been produced. Kew contributed to the Red List Authority for the IUCN/SSC South Atlantic Islands Plant Specialist Group, which completed full Red List assessments of endemic plants of St Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha and the Falkland Islands in 2003. Together with the Cayman Islands Government a Regional Red List for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac was produced as part of a project funded by the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP). Kew will be publishing this in 2006.

Training workshops were run in-Territory and training opportunities were provided at Kew for conservationists from UKOTS. Fifteen training workshops were held in five Territories (Ascension, BVI, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and St Helena). Four UKOTs participants attended International Diploma courses at Kew (St Helena, BVI, TCI, Falkland Islands). Horticulturists from Ascension, St Helena and BVI gained experience of ex situ conservation techniques at Kew.

As part of our continuing support for the re-development of the JR O’Neal Botanic Garden in BVI a conservation nursery was established and training provided to Botanic Garden staff.

A conservation genetics report on endemic Phylica species on St Helena and Tristan da Cunha was sent to the Territories in 2004.

Protocols have been developed for ex situ conservation of threatened UKOTs species in the Micropropagation unit, notably the critically endangered fern Pteris adscensionis from Ascension and the critically endangered trees Trochetiopsis ebenus and T. erythroxylon from St Helena.

Various awareness raising activities were undertaken in the UK and in-Territory to raise the profile of the UKOTs biodiversity. The 'Treasured Islands' Exhibition at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2004, a collaboration with the Eden Project to highlight plant diversity in two Darwin projects (BVI and Seychelles), was awarded a silver Lindley medal. The 'Message in a Bottle' Exhibition at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2005 highlighted Kew’s work with threatened species featuring plants from BVI and St Helena and was awarded a silver-gilt Lindley medal. Photographs and photograms of key plant species identified during Darwin fieldwork in BVI were displayed for a year in an exhibition at Wakehurst Place Gallery entitled 'Caught in Time: capturing the essence of the British Virgin Islands botanical riches'. Support was given to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office through providing UKOTs stands at their Open Days. A series of conservation posters were produced for distribution in BVI. Regular articles were written in a variety of newsletters including Forum News (Newsletter of the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum), OnCourse (Kew’s International Training Programme Newsletter); Darwin Anegada Newsletter; Montserrat Centre Hills Newsletter. A talk on conservation activities in BVI was given to HRH The Princess Royal during her official visit to BVI.

Kew became the CITES scientific authority for plants of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 2002.

FUTURE PLANS (2006 onwards)

Collections (2006 onwards)

The collection programme of herbarium specimens will be continued as part of ongoing project activity, with the aim of producing accurate conservation checklists and as a contribution to the implementation of Targets 1 & 2 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) for UKOTs.

The programme securing UKOTs threatened species in ex situ conservation by collecting seeds will be continued, with the initial expansion of the current programme to include Territories involved in new Darwin Initiative or OTEP projects: the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos Islands.

Kew will continue adding to the DNA bank by collecting silica gel specimens of key species as a routine element of current in-Territory conservation projects.

The UK mainland fungal documentation programme will be extended to incorporate UKOTs as time and funding allows.

New species from UKOTs will be added the Living Collections at Kew.

Baseline Plant Diversity Research (2006 onwards)

We will continue botanical assessment work as part of the Enabling the People of Montserrat to Conserve the Centre Hills project. Other projects will be developed in response to Territories' plant diversity research needs.

Comparative Plant Biology (2006 onwards)

Not an active area for the UKOTs programme.

Sustainable Utilisation of Plant Resources (2006 onwards)

As part of the Montserrat Darwin project, the potential of plant products as a source of material for sustainable handicraft cottage industries will be investigated.

Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (2006 onwards)

This will remain the major focus of the UKOTs programme: responding to conservation needs and priorities, and helping build capacity within UK Overseas Territories.

Kew will continue to encourage and help facilitate actions within Territories to implement the GSPC.

In particular, conservation work will continue in Montserrat with a view to establishing the Centre Hills as the first National Park for Montserrat. 

Work documenting and developing strategies for dealing with alien invasive plant species, especially in Montserrat and the Cayman Islands, will continue.

We will continue assessment work in BVI, and complete and agree a management plan for Anegada.

Advice will be given on threatened plants' management, and on CITES enforcement and the implementation of the CBD, as requested.

Horticulture protocols for threatened species using a range of techniques will continue to be developed.

Kew will continue to seek appropriate UKOTs participants for training programmes at Kew and Wakehurst Place, while also exploring new conservation project collaborations with Territories, within available resources.

Full participation in the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum will continue, and by providing advice and expertise on conservation in UKOTs support will be given to the FCO, DFID and Defra.

Projects

Application of Unconventional Supporting Systems for the Rooting of Critically Endangered Tree Species

Darwin Initiative Assessment of the Coastal Biodiversity of Anegada, British Virgin Islands

Developing a Species and Specimens Database for the UKOTs Programme

Developing Ex Situ Conservation Collections of UKOTs Species In-Territory and at Kew

Enabling the People of Montserrat to Conserve the Centre Hills

In Ivan’s wake: a Darwin Initiative Biodiversity Action Plan for the Cayman Islands

Integrating National Parks, Education and Community Development for the British Virgin Islands

Plant Diversity Challenge: the Official UK Response to the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

Pteris adscensionis (Pteridaceae) Cryopreservation

People

Herbarium

Sara Bárrios (Leonardo da Vinci scholar 2005-06), Colin Clubbe, Pat Griggs, Madeleine Groves, Martin Hamilton, Justin Moat, Marcella Corcoran

HPE

Stewart Henchie, Tony Hall, Nick Johnson, Margaret Ramsay, Viswambharan Sarasan, Martin Staniforth, Michele Sanchez

Jodrell Laboratory

Michael Fay, Peter Roberts

Seed Conservation Department

Steve Alton, Daisy Dent

Partners

Anguilla

The Anguilla National Trust

The Ministry of the Environment

Ascension

Conservation Department

Bermuda

Bermuda Zoological Society

Department of Conservation Services

British Virgin Islands

BVI National Parks Trust

Conservation and Fisheries Department

Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands National Trust

Department of the Environment

Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park

Gibraltar

Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society

Falkland Islands

Falklands Conservation

Jersey

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

Montserrat

Department of Agriculture

Montserrat National Trust

Montserrat Tourist Board

Pitcairn Islands

Pitcairn Islands Council

Office of the Governor of Pitcairn Islands

St Helena

Agriculture and Forestry Department

St Helena National Trust

Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks & Caicos Islands National Trust

UK

CABI Bioscience

Eden Project

Fauna and Flora International (FFI)

Forestry Commission

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)

Marine Turtle Research Group, University of Exeter in Cornwall

The Open University

Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)

UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF)

USA

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Fairchild Tropical Garden

Publications

Alton*, S. (2004). The Millennium Seed Bank Project international programme. Journal of Botanic Gardens Conservation International 1 (1): 15-16.

Clubbe*, C. (2005). Building capacity and developing botanical infrastructure for conservation: a case study from the British Virgin Islands. BG Journal 2 (1): 10-12.

Clubbe*, C. & Jhilmit, S. (2002). Integrating forestry and biodiversity conservation in tropical forests in Trinidad. In Maunder, M., Clubbe, C., Hankamer, C. & Groves, M. (eds) Plant conservation in the tropics: perspectives and practice. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 185-206.

Clubbe*, C., Gillman, M., Acevedo Rodriguez, P. & Walker, R. (2004). Abundance, distribution and conservation significance of regionally endemic plant species on Anegada, British Virgin Islands. Oryx 38 (3): 342-346.

Hamilton*, M.A. & Crellin*, L. (2005). The UK Overseas Territories wreath of remembrance. Forum News 26: 3.

Hamilton*, M.A. (2005). In-situ study of endangered island endemics of the Virgin Islands. Combined Proceedings of the International Plant Propagators Society 54: 235-239.

Maunder*, M. & Clubbe*, C. (2002). Section overview: conserving tropical botanical diversity in the real world. In Maunder, M., Clubbe, C., Hankamer, C. & Groves, M. (eds) Plant conservation in the tropics: perspectives and practice. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 29-48.

Maunder*, M. & Clubbe*, C. (2002). Section overview: species conservation issues in the tropics. In Maunder, M., Clubbe, C., Hankamer, C. & Groves, M. (eds) Plant conservation in the tropics: perspectives and practice. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 299-322.

Maunder*, M., Clubbe*, C., Hankamer*, C. & Groves*, M. (eds) (2002). Plant conservation in the tropics: perspectives and practice. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 628 pp.

Richardson*, J.E., Fay*, M.F., Cronk, Q.C. & Chase*, M.W. (2003). Species delimitation and the origin of populations in island representatives of Phylica (Rhamnaceae). Evolution 57 (4): 816-827.

Richardson*, J.E., Weitz, F.M., Fay*, M.F., Cronk, Q.C., Linder, H.P., Reeves*, G. & Chase*, M.W. (2001). Phylogenetic analysis of Phylica L. (Rhamnaceae) with an emphasis on island species: evidence from plastid trnL-F and nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ribosomal) DNA sequences. Taxon 50 (2): 405-427.

Richardson*, J.E., Weitz, F.M., Fay*, M.F., Cronk, Q.C., Linder, H.P., Reeves*, G. & Chase*, M.W. (2001). Rapid and recent origin of species richness in the Cape flora of South Africa. Nature 412: 181-183.

Sarasan*, V. (2003). Application of Sorbarods and Florialite to rooting of critically endangered tree species Trochetiopsis ebenus. In Economou, A.S. & Read, P.E. (eds) 1 International Symposium on Acclimatization and Establishment of Propogated Plants. International Society for Horticultural Science. Acta Horticulturae, 616. 211-214.

Staniforth*, M. (2001). Rescuing the near dead: propagation for conservation. Combined Proceedings International Plant Propagators Society 51: 206-212.

Annex material