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Northwestern University Ecological Park & Botanic Gardens is the country`s largest repository of Plant Diversity
The Northwestern University Ecological Park & Botanic Gardens (NUEBG) stands as the nation`s largest living repository of plant diversity, harboring an extraordinary collection of over 3,000 species a testament to the unparalleled richness of Philippine flora. NUEBG is a bastion of conservation, ensuring the zero extinct of Ilocos Norte`s native and endemic plant species from its 19 years of research and exploration.
Through decades of rigorous scientific research, species propagation, and habitat restoration, NUEBG has safeguarded the region`s botanical heritage, actively monitoring threats to all 11 identified natural ecosystems of the region. As the heart of the Northwestern University`s Green Initiative, it exemplifies a resolute commitment to biodiversity conservation, proving that with science, dedication, and collective action, extinction is not an inevitability it is a challenge that can be conquered.
Today, NUEBG continues to protect and propagate Ilocos Norte`s endemic species, including Plant Species with Extremely Small Populations (PSESP), ensuring their survival for future generations, and reinforcing its role as an inspiration of plant conservation in the Philippines.
NUEBG Ex situ collection, a response to the Global Strategy in Plant Conservation (GSPC).
The Northwestern University Ecological Park & Botanic Gardens (NUEBG) aligns its plant conservation initiatives with the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC).
The GSPC outlines five key objectives and 16 specific targets aimed at safeguarding plant diversity, originally set for achievement by 2020, with an updated framework extending to 2030. This guide serves to introduce these objectives and targets, providing background information on their significance and purpose. It also highlights the current status of implementation and offer links to additional resources for each budget.
The GSPC is closely linked to the GSPC Toolkit, an online resource available at www.plants2020.net, which provides practical guidance and tools for achieving conservation goals. The strategy applies to flowering plants, bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), and pteridophytes (ferns), covering terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystem.
As the GSPC states: "Without plants, there is no life. The functioning of planet, and our survival, depends on plants. The Strategy seeks to halt the continuing loss of plant diversity."
THE GSPC MISSION: The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation is a catalyst for working together at all levels - local, national, regional and global - to understand, conserve and use sustainably the world`s immense wealth of plant diversity whilst promoting awareness and building the necessary capacities for its implementation.
GSPC Target 7: states that at least 75 percent of known threatened plant species conserved in situ
The conservation works started from the International Union on the Conservation Nature (IUCN) list and the NUEBG was able to target 47% conservation efficiency. The projection is to conserve up to 98% of the whole endemic by the end of 2025 and to locate/recover the extinct Guioa parvifoliola from the wild which is critically endangered species.
Podocarpus seedlings (picture below) were germinated for conservation . This endangered species are keystone species of the region. They represents the primitive flora that existed during the Jurassic epoch. Today they are now contained in the mountain tops vulnerable to climate change.
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