The Role of Botanic Gardens and in Contemporary Biodiversity Conservation

Dear Colleagues,

Botanic gardens first developed as institutions associated with the genesis of modern botanical science in the 16th century, the development of the first university departments dedicated to the study of botany, as well as the study of the medicinal properties of plants. During the 17th and 18th centuries, botanic gardens played key roles in the expansion of European colonialism throughout the global south and, in the 19th century, the associated establishment of European imperialism on a global scale. Nevertheless, the 19th century also came with the establishment of the first post-colonial botanic gardens—a process that was consolidated through the global south throughout the 20th century.

In recent decades, botanic gardens began re-inventing themselves as institutions of environmental governance. Many have become important institutions of plant biodiversity conservation. This has entailed the conduct of scientific research, knowledge dissemination, in situ/ex situ conservation, and the storage of plant material in herbaria, seed banks, and digital DNA labs—amongst other activities. Much of these activities take place under the umbrella of Botanic Gardens Conservation International—an umbrella international organization that facilitates the circulation of the knowledge that is produced in this context, as well as of information on best practices and on possible synergies amongst botanic gardens and kin institutions.

Until recently, however, social-scientific scrutiny into the nature of botanic gardens as institutions of biodiversity conservation was all but non-existent. Notable exceptions are Blackmore and Oldfield (2017), who investigated the importance of botanic gardens in the development of critically important plant science in the ‘Anthropocene’. Hartingan has investigated botanic gardens as sites where circles of care have been expanding to include a growing array of plants assemblages (Hartingan 2017). Neves (2016, 2019) has accounted for their transition from institutions associated with modernity colonial rule to contemporary institutions of environmental governance on a global scale.

This proposed Special Issue seeks to redress this lacuna. With a focus on contributions from the social sciences and the humanities, this Special Issue will be the first of its kind by engaging with the emerging roles of botanic gardens as institutions of biodiversity conservation, by offering studies that focus on a wide geographic coverage of examples from around the world, and by welcoming contributions from both well-established scholars as well as high quality contributions from scholars whose voices remain relatively marginal in this field of study (such as, for example, indigenous scholars).

Prof. Dr. Katja Neves
Guest Editor

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• botanic gardens
• biodiversity conservation
• social dynamics
• knowledge politics
• environmental education