The Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) Accreditation is aimed at botanical institutions wishing to establish their credentials and achieving it demonstrates the Garden鈥檚 conformity to the highest international standards as a botanic garden.
Curator Natalie Chivers said, 鈥淭his is the culmination of more than two years鈥 work to evidence that we meet the strict criteria to be acknowledged by BGCI as an Accredited Botanic Garden, which places us on the international stage with other high-profile botanic gardens such as Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Cambridge University Botanic Garden, the Eden Project and our Welsh partner garden, the National Botanic Garden of Wales, amongst many other prestigious institutions the world over. The task of putting our case together for submission was led by volunteer Plant Records Officer Paul Smith, who spent many months assembling and preparing the evidence and liaising with BGCI and other stakeholders. This is a joint success for the Botanic Garden and the Friends of Treborth Botanic Garden, who provide thousands of hours of volunteer support to the Garden every year鈥.
Botanic Gardens applying for Accreditation are assessed on criteria encompassing leadership, specialist horticultural expertise, collections management, public education, community and cultural activities, conservation actions, scientific research, staff, networking and sustainability.
Paul Smith said, 鈥淲hen I saw the communication from BGCI saying that our application had been successful, I was both ecstatic and relieved. It has been a very exacting process covering many different aspects of Treborth that I had not fully appreciated before starting to help with this task. In addition to providing a summary and overview of the plant collection at Treborth, we have submitted lists of dozens of research papers and theses undertaken at Treborth, documented in detail our extensive contribution to the education of university students and of the public, explained our role in the well-being of visitors, and provided evidence of our conservation work on several very rare species such as the critically endangered endemic Cotoneaster cambricus that grows only on the Great Orme just 20 miles along the coast from the Botanic Garden. This is a well-deserved recognition of all that Treborth has achieved and the professionalism of its staff and volunteers.鈥
BGCI works with over 800 botanic gardens in 118 countries, whose combined work forms the world's largest plant conservation network. The achievement of Accreditation comes 60 years after Treborth Botanic Garden was established and marks an exciting new phase in its development both within the University and the global conservation community.
