ID: 613 / 185

Category: Symposia

Track: Pending

Proposed Symposium Title: LET PEOPLE COME TO BOTANY I: NEW METHODS TO ENGAGE PEOPLE WITH PLANT DIVERSITY

Abstract: Over the last decades, there has been a sharp decline in global biodiversity. Land-use change, habitat fragmentation, and climate change are key human-induced causes contributing to the current biodiversity crisis. Global public awareness of climate change concerns is strong, but there has historically been little public awareness of biodiversity loss. This poses a serious challenge for conservation efforts since public support is essential for developing and implementing successful policies to prevent and reverse biodiversity loss. If general awareness of biodiversity loss is low, knowledge of plant diversity is even lower. Plants have traditionally been overlooked, and expressions such as "plant blindness", defined as a human tendency to ignore plant species, perfectly illustrate the current plant conservation crisis. However, two out of every five plant species face extinction, and plants are essential for maintaining the ecosystems that support all species, including humans, by supplying habitat, shelter, food, and oxygen. Therefore, it is essential to raise public knowledge of the value of plant conservation. Public awareness of the biodiversity crisis, particularly for plants, is low, creating a barrier to engaging with conservation programmes. Stopping plant diversity loss and the impact it has on ecosystem health and human well-being requires raising public awareness about the need for plant conservation. However, involving people in conservation is a big challenge. People's interaction with nature is decreasing in today's world, where a large portion of the human population lives in cities. This is a pattern that will only intensify in the future. Perhaps society’s interest in plants is decreasing because of limited exposure to plants in our daily lives, schools, and workplaces. However, when we critically examine our roles as plant scientists and educators, we realise that there are definitely things we could do better. To spark people's interest in and understanding of plants, new ways of connecting people to nature are necessary. Citizen science, internet portals, and mobile applications (apps) are notable initiatives that are assisting in the achievement of this objective.

Speaker 1: Miguel Porto; CIBIO - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal. CIBIO - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal; Sociedade Portuguesa de Botânica. miguel.porto@cibio.up.pt Making more out of biodiversity data: the example of the Flora-On portal and the Red List collaborative platform.

Speaker 2: Patrícia Tiago, cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE - Global Change and Sustainability Institute. FCUL: Sciences Faculty of the University of Lisbon Campo Grande, Ed.C2.5.37, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal, pmtiago@fc.ul.pt - How can citizen science and biodiversity platforms contribute to increase botanical literacy and knowledge?

Speaker 3: Mario Mairal, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Departamento de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Unidad de Botánica. C/ José Antonio Novais 12, 28040, Madrid, Spain, mariomai@ucm.es Experiences of using citizen science as a teaching tool for botany.

Topics (Up to three): Education and Outreach

Topic 2: na

Topic 3: na

Justification: Global biodiversity has declined dramatically in recent decades. However, there is minimal public awareness of biodiversity loss and, additionally, plants have historically been ignored. This creates a significant challenge for conservation efforts since public support is critical for creating and implementing effective policies to prevent and reverse biodiversity loss. As a result, increasing public awareness of the need of plant conservation is critical. This symposium intends to demonstrate, exchange, and discuss how innovative techniques such as citizen science, internet portals, and mobile applications might be utilised as educational tools to increase public understanding of plant biodiversity.