KARACHI, Dec 1: The Karachi University Botanic Garden (KUBG) organised a lecture in collaboration with the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Karachi chapter. Prof Albert Stevens, Director of the Berlin Botanic Garden, Germany, delivered a lecture on “The Role of Botanic Gardens in the Plant Conservation.”
He described a botanic garden as a living collection of documented plants for the purpose of scientific research, conservation, display and education.
He said BGs could not be built overnight, but required continuous efforts by a team having strong support from community.
BGs have potential to become a place for the cultural activities and tourism, especially for the city like Karachi.
They are no longer a luxury, but were becoming a necessity for the survival of human being because plants are under threat of extinction because of the habitat loss and climatic changes.
He said that about 100 years back, the Berlin Botanic Garden was at the same stage which KUBG stood today, but because of well-planned design and management, the BBG had now 16 public houses representing geographic, systematic and thematic areas like Australia, Mediterranean, medicinal, water garden, tropical useful plants, succulent species, orchids, ferns and arboretum.
He also recommended a data base for the conservation of threatened and endangered species because mankind had accelerated the rate of extinction of species by 100 to 1,000 times of the natural rate.
The Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) estimates that around 60,000 to 10,000 species worldwide are endangered, and two third of them will be extinct in 2100, but more then 9,000 species are cultivated in BGs.
Karachi University is committed to play a vital role in the ex-situ, in-situ conservation, teaching and research through development of a BG on the area of 30 acres at a cost of Rs29.2 million granted by HEC.
KUBG is working as per Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) for conserving plant diversity through ex-situ collection of threatened plant species.
Prof Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, Vice-Chancellor of the Karachi University, assured Prof Albert Steven of his full support in any linkage or collaboration for GB staff training in future.—APP
