Faced with the lack of importance attributed to plant management in general, the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) defined a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation at their Sixth Conference. This strategy consists of sixteen targets.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has taken the initiative to fund the development of a project which will be implemented in six countries (Morocco, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Costa Rica and Cameroon) for a period of five years. This project is to apply targets 2 and 5 of this strategy, which correspond essentially to the aims of the IUCN. Target 2 is to determine plants' conservation status according to IUCN guidelines, and to add them to the Red List. 'Target 5 is to protect 50% of Important Plant Areas (IPAs) by 2010. Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) has been commissioned by the IUCN to provide technical support for the development and implementation of this project.
This project must be developed according to the procedures of the GEF, which had originally been identified as the potential financial backer, and therefore within the framework of what is known as the PDFB according to the terminology used by the GEF. ln particular, information must be given on the areas, regarding knowledge of plants' conservation status, the IPAs already identified, the stakeholders in plant conservation and the plant conservation strategies and policies in each of the countries concerned.
This information on the sites must lead on to the development of a project accompanied by a logical framework, identifying a certain number of pilot areas where the conservation of the I PAs can be tested.
The Madagascar Plant Specialist Group (MPSG) has been commissioned by the IUCN, and has received the endorsement of the Ministry of Environment, Water & Forests (MinEWF) to provide information on the areas, develop the project and identify the various partners who might become actively involved in implementing the project.
ln accomplishing this mission, the MPSG has put in place a pilot committee of top-level players in the field of the environment, of whom a list is provided as an appendix, and a scientific monitoring committee consisting of the members of the
MPSG.
Finally, it must be stated that Madagascar is one of the countries which has already been able to develop a National Strategy on Sustainable Biodiversity Management, or NSSBM, as part of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This strategy underlies all the country's biodiversity-related actions. Thus it makes perfect sense for the Madagascan authorities to endorse the MPSG's participation in this IUCN initiative on the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, as this is an action which will reinforce the country's own plant strategy.