International workshop on plant conservation on Mediterranean islands
All the presentations given at the workshop are now available from the project website.
Reports from an international workshop on plant conservation on Mediterranean islands are now available.
As part of the Kew-led project ‘Ensuring the survival of endangered plants in the Mediterranean’, 60 delegates from five European countries attended an international workshop at L’Orto Botanico di Catania, Sicily, on 18 – 20 April 2013.
The main topics of the workshop were:
- Mediterranean flora conservation: challenges and recent advances
- Seed dormancy and germination of Mediterranean plants in the framework of operation and management of a seed bank
- Adding value to ex situ collections: link between seed banking of native plants and ecological restoration
The workshop strengthened networking in Mediterranean flora conservation and allowed delegates to share experiences gained from projects that integrate ex situ and in situ conservation.
The workshop included a field excursion to the nature reserve of Vendicari (Siracusa), one of the best preserved protected areas of Sicily. The director of this protected area explained the work being done to restore and increase the conservation status of the sandy habitats (dunes) and wetlands and to consolidate the beach for the nesting of Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta caretta).
Photo: Dune and beach restoration at the Vendicari nature reserve (Siracusa), Sicily (Photo: Teresa Gil Gil)