Media release

From: Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

The Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens (CCABG) will launch two new tools, the Landscape Succession Toolkit and the Climate Assessment Tool, at the 7th Global Botanic Gardens Congress held in Melbourne from 25-29 September, to help garden and landscape managers select plants that will thrive in future climates.

“As a leader in climate change action, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is proud to be launching these new tools on behalf of the Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens which began in Melbourne four years ago’ says Tim Entwisle, Director and Chief Executive, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. ‘While we must continue to halt human-induced global warming, our garden and park landscapes will need to adapt the already changed climate’

Both tools have evolved from the Landscape Succession Strategy released by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in 2016, the first of its kind for botanic gardens in Australia and a blueprint for other botanic gardens across the world. The strategy guides the selection of trees and plants at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne to those more suited to the projected climate of 2090, which is predicted to be more like present day Dubbo.

The Landscape Succession Toolkit provides a framework for botanic gardens to develop their own landscape succession strategies, while allowing botanic gardens the flexibility to discover creative solutions to their own unique challenges and opportunities. This Toolkit is made possible thanks to generous support from Botanic Gardens Australia & New Zealand (BGANZ).

The Climate Assessment Tool takes this a step further. It compares natural and cultivated records of over 60,000 trees and compares them to climate data projected in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission scenarios. This gives botanic gardens guidance on which trees may struggle or thrive in their future climate, and a direction for research and experimentation.

This online assessment tool was developed by the Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, International Association of Botanic Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and University of Tasmania.

“The world’s botanic gardens hold vast resources of horticultural and scientific knowledge, and this is our opportunity to apply that to one of the greatest challenges to face our planet,” said Tim Entwisle. “Botanic garden landscapes and their plant collections are too important for science, conservation and changing behaviours to not act now.’

The Landscape Succussion Toolkit will be launched on Tuesday 27 September, and the Climate Assessment Tool on Thursday 29 September, at the 7th Global Botanic Gardens Congress. After the launches, the Landscape Succession Strategy Toolkit will be available for free download from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria website and the Climate Assessment Tool will be freely available in the first instance to all botanic gardens.

For further information, please visit Landscape Succession Toolkit | Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (rbg.vic.gov.au)

Event details:

Climate Assessment Tool Launch 

·       Thursday 29th September

·       02:35pm, stream 8E

·       Plant Diversity & Conservation

·       Workshop: The Launch of the Climate Resilience Assessment Tool: A Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens Initiative

·       Presenters: Peter Symes, Dave Kendal, Paul Smith, Clare Hart, Tessa Kum