Kew in the 21st Century – How do we

engage the public with biodiversity?

‘One in five species

on Earth now faces

extinction, and that will

rise to 50% by the end of

the century unless urgent

action is taken’

View of the world’s leading biologists,

ecologists and economists

The smallest waterlily (Nymphaea thermarum)

Age of extinction

1

Food security

‘It has been estimated that

we need to produce more

food in the next 35 years

than we have ever produced

in human history, given the

projected increases in

world population, and on

the basis that rising

incomes will continue to

change diets.’

Global Food Security

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Urbanisation

‘The total number of

individuals living in

Africa’s urban areas is

expected to rise from

400 million in 2010 to

1.26 billion in 2050’

Brookings

Foresight Africa Report 2016

(www.brookings.edu)

Cairo, Egypt

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Botanic Gardens

Botanic gardens

must be seen to

have contemporary

relevance in helping

to address these

global challenges4

Kew’s purpose in the 21st century

•Research and disseminate knowledge of plant

and fungal diversity

•Conserve plant & fungal diversity

•Educate the next generation of

scientists and horticulturalists

•Build public understanding of the importance

of plant and fungal diversity

5

Science and conservation

Temperate House interpretation on false banana Ensete ventricosum6

Science and conservation

Temperate House interpretation on Wood’s cycad Ensphalartos woodii7

The Hive

8

The Hive video

9

Science Festival Wakehurst

10

Youth Explainers

11

Grow Wild

12

Grow wild giant fungus

13

My Passion for Trees – Dame Judi Dench

14

My Passion for Trees video clip

15

State of the World’s Plants / Fungi

16

School visits

17

Plant meat

Impossible burger 18

Crop wild relatives and GM

Flood tolerant rice19

Crop wild relatives and GM

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RI) Golden rice

20

Bio-fuels

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Buddy Alder, a

Leon County

farmer, stands

in a rye grass

field intended

for biofuel

production22

Urban forestry

Bosque Milan building

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Pink Floyd exhibition at V&A

25

Pink Floyd exhibition at V&A

26

Crop wild relatives and GM

GM

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ers 21