Conservation of endemic Central African trees

Conservation of endemic Central African trees

Partner: Meise Botanical Garden
Years: 2018-2021

Central Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi) is a botanically highly diverse region housing an estimated 11,000 species of vascular plants species, of which approximately 2,500 are trees.

Meise Botanic Garden teamed up with Botanical Gardens Conservation International and the IUCN/SSC Global Tree Specialist Group to facilitate tree conservation by coordinating efforts to assess all c. 400 tree species (sub-)endemic to Central Africa. Distribution data, potential impact of climate change on future tree species distributions and effectiveness of the Central African protected area network in terms of conserving endemic trees will be determined. Hotspots of endemic tree species will also be identified.