On February 26 and 27, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) China Programme Workshop was held in South China Botanical Garden (SCBG). This workshop was organized by BGCI, State Forestry Administration (SFA), Chinese Academy Sciences (CAS), and State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). The theme of workshop was “ensuring plant conservation success in China”. Ms. Sara Oldfield, secretary general of BGCI, parts of BGCI officers, Mrs. WEN Xiangying, BGCI China Programme coordinator, Mr. JIA Jiansheng, deputy director of Department of Wildlife Conservation of SFA, Dr. SU Ronghui, deputy director of Life Science and Biological Technology Bureau of CAS, Prof. CHEN Yong, director of Guangzhou Branch of CAS, and all the members of SCBG Leadership, and parts of scientists from SCBG, over 100 delegates participated in the opening ceremony. Delegates and experts from SEPA, Lushan Botanical Garden, Shenzhen Fairylake Botanical Garden, Qinling Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Sichuan University, South China Agricultural University, Hongkong Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, and all botanical institutes and botanical gardens of CAS, were invited to attend the workshop.

The ceremony was chaired by Prof. ZHOU Guoyi, deputy director of SCBG. Prof. HUANG Hongwen, director of SCBG, firstly gave a speech to welcome all the delegates and to congratulate that the workshop was held successfully. Subsequently, Mr. Jia, Ms. Sara, Mrs. Wen, and Dr. Su gave respective speeches in the ceremony. At the same time, China’s Strategy for Plant Conservation (CSPC) was official released and BGCI’s China Programme Office Label was unveiled in the ceremony.

Experts and participants discussed several topics and presented more than 10 academic reports at the workshop, including botanic gardens and the China strategies for plant conservation, priorities for action 2008–2010, and planning for integrated conservation of globally threatened trees in China. The delegates thought that it is difficult to carry out plant conservation in China, especially in the remote area, because people are lack of plant conservation awareness. They also suggested that each botanical garden should work together to form a botanic gardens network and enhance coordination and cooperation for ex situ conservation to improve the exchange and share of resources, information and techniques among botanic gardens.

During the workshop, some key delegates and experts held a talk with BGCI’s officers about top-priority conserved regions and plant species in China. Ms. Sara made a conclusion that it was pleasant and valuable for BGCI to join in this workshop. She also pointed out, “it is a long time and hard work for the plant conservation in China and BGCI will continue to support the plant conservation projects carried out in China in the future, especially the realization of CSPC target 8 in China”.