Co-Chairs

Cristina López-Gallego (1) Carolina Catellanos-Castro (2)

Red List Authority Coordinator

Nestor García (3)

Location/Affiliation(1) University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia (2) Alexander von Humboldt Institute, Bogotá, Colombia (3) Departamento de Biología, Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, Colombia

Number of members

18

IUCN SSC Colombian

Plant Specialist Group

Cristina López-Gallego Carolina Castellanos-Castro

2016-2017 Report

Mission statement

To generate baseline information to support decision-making for plant conservation by different stakeholders in Colombia.

Main activities by Key Priority Area

(2016 & 2017)

Barometer of life

L Proposal development and funding

i. The group participated in the development of a proposal that was presented to the Critical Ecosystem Partnership to assess the extinction risk of conservation priority plants in the Tropical Andes hotspot. The proposal was selected to receive funds and the project will be conducted during 2018 and 2019 in collabora-tion with IUCN and partners in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. (KSR #9)

L Red List

i. Our group prioritised 300 paramo plant species and consolidated information for these species for Red List assessments. (KSR #1)

Bolster work at national scales

L Synergy

i. During 2017, the Colombian Plant Specialist Group was formed and a proposal was written to the IUCN SSC and approved by the SSC Steering Committee in November. (KSR #22)

ii. During 2017, the Colombian Plant Specialist group expanded collaborations with the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the CNC Flora (Brasil) for technical assistance with Red List assessments and advice on informa-tion support systems. (KSR #29)

Capacity building

L Capacity building

i. A Red List training for Colombian botanists was organised in Villa de Leyva, Colombia, in early August of 2017. Twenty members of the new Colombian Plan Specialist Group were trained. Training was followed up with one on one instruction from trainer Domitilla Raimondo. (KSR #5)

Acknowledgements

The Colombian Plant Specialist Group thanks the financial and technical support of Instituto Alexander von Humboldt (Colombia), SANBI (South Africa), CNC Flora (Brasil) and Colombian host-institutions of our members, which made possible the development of our meetings and workshops and contributed to the creation of our Specialist Group and training of our members for Red List assessments and conservation action planning. We also thank the European Union and the Ministry of Environ-ment, which supported the costs of the training in Red List UICN methodology that took place in Villa de Levya, Colombia, and Mariella Superina and Domitilla Raimondo, who participated as instructors.

Targets for the quadrennium 2017-2020

Barometer of life

Red List: advances in the National Red List of plants (3,000 assessments), particularly for endemics, other species of conservation interest and potential Least Concern species within taxonomic groups or ecosystems.

Conservation action

Conservation activities: (1) implementation and evaluation of short-term targets of existing con-servation action plans for plants (some timber trees, Palms, Cycads, Orchids) and develop-ment of new plans for other strategic groups (like cacti, medicinal plants, crop wild-relatives and other species of socio-economic impor-tance); (2) incorporate plant Red List informa-tion into conservation planning, including identi-fication of Important Plant Areas (IPAs).

Policy advice: incorporate plants Red List information into conservation planning as part of national landscape management plans.

Projected impact for the quadrennium

2017-2020

By 2020, we hope to contribute significantly to the implementation of the National Strategy for Plant Conservation in Colombia, particularly in relation with the general goal of using high-qual-ity information for decision making. We want to expand coverage of the national Red List and conservation action plans to have a broader perspective on financial, technical, research and management needs, which could be incorporat-ed in plant conservation strategic planning at national level.

Summary of activities (2016-2017)

Key Priority Area ratio: 3/7

Key Priority Areas addressed:

• Barometer of life (2 activities)

• Bolster work at national scales (2 activities)

• Capacity building (1 activity)

Main KSRs addressed: 1, 5, 9, 22, 29 KSR: Key Species Result

Zamia pyrophylla, Quibdó, Chocó, Colombia Photo: Cristina López-Gallego

Unidentified fern, Frontino Paramo, Antioquia, Colombia Photo: Cristina López-Gallego

Sabinaria magnifica, Darien, Colombia Photo: Cristina López-Gallego