WA first to meet world target for threatened species
Source: Western Australia. Minister for the Environment. Media Release
"Western Australia has become the first partner in a global seed conservation program to meet one of the international targets for conserving threatened plants. Environment and Climate Change Minister David Templeman said the achievement positioned WA as a world leader in conservation. The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, has set a target for 60 per cent of threatened plant species to be in accessible seed collections, preferably in the country of origin, and for 10 per cent of them to be included in recovery programs by 2010. The Department of Environment and Conservation’s Threatened Flora Seed Centre now holds seed collections from more than 70 per cent of the State’s threatened (declared rare) flora species. “WA is the first place in the world where both aspects of this target have been met,” the Minister said."