United Kingdom
Background
As a Non-Departmental Public Body, funded through the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Kew has statutory obligations under the National Heritage Act, 1983 and must also respond to UK policies and legislation. Kew also supports international policy initiatives of the UK government and international conventions to which the UK government is a signatory. For example, Kew has helped the UK government to implement its commitment to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in the UK and overseas, contributing to the development of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and the official UK response, Plant Diversity Challenge.
Despite this context, Kew’s sphere of operations has in the past often been viewed as exclusively overseas with a focus on those areas of the world where plant diversity is greatest. However, Kew also has a major role in the conservation of UK biodiversity and has had a significant national impact, particularly in recent years. In addition to the direct positive outcomes of this work, Kew’s role in the conservation of UK biodiversity has greatly enhanced the credibility of the organisation when developing international partnerships to conserve global biodiversity. The increased focus on activities in the UK was recognised by the formation of a UK team in the Science Strategy developed prior to the 2001 Science Audit.
A flagship project in the UK portfolio since the 1980s has been the Sainsbury Orchid project. This has the aim of helping in the conservation of British and European orchids by propagation and re-establishment (see Sainsbury orchid conservation project).
The Conservation Genetics Unit was formed in 1995, and due to the similarity of techniques used by the Unit and Molecular Systematics, the Unit was transferred from HPE to the Jodrell as the Conservation Genetics Section. This subsequently fused with the Cytogenetics Section to make the Genetics Section in 2002 (following the recommendation in the 2001 Science Audit that administrative structures should be more even in size and coherent in structure). The Conservation Genetics Group within the Genetics Section now consists of two core posts and a variable number of externally funded posts, visitors and students. The Group has a strong UK focus, working on rare species selected in consultation with the country agencies.
The Mycology Section has a remit for investigating British fungi, based on the National Collections of Fungi at Kew (c. 250,000 specimens). Major products for the UK team are the keys and authoritative guides to the British and Irish mycota. The Section also contributes to screening for active metabolites of British fungi, supplies cultures for and contributes to research projects on British orchid-endomycorrhizal fungi and supplies distribution data and background information of fungi of conservation importance (see Mycology team documents for further details).
An innovative collaborative project for the ex situ conservation of UK bryophytes, funded by the UK statutory conservation agencies was established in the Micropropagation Unit in 2000. Protocols for the collection, in vitro propagation and cryostorage of threatened UK bryophytes have been developed and evaluated, and 24 species are now held in culture. Initial trials on re-establishment of stored material have taken place and further trials are planned. The UK is the first country to conserve its threatened bryophytes ex situ (see Ex situ conservation of threatened UK bryophytes project).
In addition to the collections, Kew manages over 300 hectares of estates with significant nature conservation value including the Francis Rose Reserve, which is more than 50 hectares of Wakehurst Place, and Chiddingley Woods Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The accessibility of these estates and their combination of garden displays and excellent horticulture creates opportunities for raising public awareness of UK biodiversity. Management of the natural areas at Kew and Wakehurst, incorporating the principles and practices of Agenda 21 (of the United Nations Environment Programme), also contributes to the implementation of local and national biodiversity action plans (BAPs). Phenological records for plants at Kew for more than 50 years are being databased and made available to the public via the website together with flowering dates for 100 plants in the collections each year.