Despite the importance of plants for humans and the threats to their future, plant conservation receives far less support compared with vertebrate conservation. Plants are much cheaper and easier to conserve than are animals, but, although there are no technical reasons why any plant species should become extinct, inadequate funding and the shortage of skilled people has created barriers to their conservation. These barriers include the incomplete inventory, the low proportion of species with conservation status assessments, partial online data accessibility, varied data quality, and insufficient investment in both in and ex situ conservation. Machine learning, citizen science (CS), and new technologies could mitigate these problems, but we need to set national and global targets of zero plant extinction to attract greater support.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

China has an in situ conservation system built around national parks, and has begun establishing an ex situ conservation system led by National Botanical Gardens. We highlight how this National Botanical Gardens system will serve the global biodiversity conservation goal of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Amorphophallus albus P. Y. Liu & J. F. Chen (Araceae) is a plant species with extremely small populations (PSESP) and an important economic crop endemic to dry-hot valleys along the Jinsha River. In order to gain information for sustaining the development and conservation of A. albus, we studied the genetic diversity and population structure of this species using microsatellite markers (SSR). In this study, we analysed 364 individuals belonging to 24 populations, including four wild populations and three ex-situ cultivated populations, collected in the provinces Yunnan, Sichuan and Hubei.

<p id="p00015"><strong>Aims:</strong> Vascular plants provide most of the planet&#x02019;s biomass. Thousands of new vascular plant species have been discovered and described every year recently. Timely analysis of the published data of new vascular plants taxa can show the research hotspots of vascular plant taxonomy in details and provide reference data for studies of related fields such as botany, ecology, and conservation science.</p><p id="p00020"><strong>Methods:</strong> The data were derived from the IPNI (https://www.ipni.org/), Tropicos (https://www.tropicos.org/), WCSP (https://wcsp.science.kew.org/) and The Plant List (http://www.theplantlist.org/). Statistics of new taxa of vascular plants published in 2021 were available as of April 16, 2022 excluding new combinations, new statuses or new names and bryophyte data.</p><p id="p00025"><strong>Results:</strong> In 2021, at least 2,219 new taxa of vascular plants were described worldwide, including 1 new subfamily, 7 new tribes, 7 new subtribes, 68 new genera, 7 new subgenera, 15 new sections, 8 new subsections, 10 new series, 1,979 new species, 46 new subspecies, 59 new varieties, and 12 new forms. These new taxa belong to 185 families and 881 genera, among which Orchidaceae, Asteraceae and Rubiaceae had received more attentions. In 2021, 2,219 new taxa of vascular plants were described worldwide in 165 journals and 14 books by 1,942 scholars, of which 42 authors have published more than 11 new taxa. <i>Phytotaxa</i> and <i>PhytoKeys</i> were the top two journals in terms of the numbers of new taxa of vascular plants published in 2021 and published 586 and 112, respectively. Among the 2,096 new species and infraspecific taxa, 1,940 belonged to angiosperms, 147 to pteridophytes, and only 9 to gymnosperms, among which Orchidaceae are the most, with 227. The 2,096 new species and infraspecific taxa were from 115 countries and regions in the world. Asia and South America were the hotspots of discoveries of new species and infraspecific taxa, with 837 and 571, respectively. By country, China, Brazil, and Madagascar were the top three with the most new species and infraspecific taxa discovered in 2021, with 283, 269, and 169, respectively. Considering the fact that IPNI added 797 new species described in 2020 after February 1, 2021, we estimate ca. 700 new species described in 2021 will be added in various databases after April 16, 2022. This will increase the number of new species (and infraspecific taxa) published in 2021 to ca. 2,800, which is comparable to the annual numbers since 2001.</p>

<p id="p00010"><strong>Background &amp; Aim:</strong> The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a new global biodiversity strategy—the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (the Kunming-Montreal GBF). The following five package outcomes were also adopted: Monitoring Framework; Mechanisms for Planning, Monitoring, Reporting and Review; Resource Mobilization; Capacity-Building and Development, Scientific and Technological Cooperation; and Genetic Resources Digital Sequence Information. Parties to the Convention need to implement the Kunming-Montreal GBF and its package of outcomes domestically. In order to facilitate China’s implementation of the Kunming-Montreal GBF, the paper briefly reviews the development process and the main contents of the Kunming-Montreal GBF and its package of outcomes.</p> <p id="p00015"><strong>Review Results:</strong> Comments on the global and national impact of the Kunming-Montreal GBF are given. In order to implement the Kunming-Montreal GBF, developed countries should enhance biodiversity financing and ensure the level of international funds related to biodiversity flowing to developing countries. Developing countries should revise or update national biodiversity strategies and action plans, monitor and report national implementation progress by using indicators, and accept review. China should host the inter-sessional process of the CBD and facilitate the implementation of the package deals of the Kunming-Montreal GBF.</p> <p id="p00020"><strong>Recommendations:</strong>Recommendations on how to implement the Kunming-Montreal GBF in China are provided: updating and revising the national biodiversity strategic action plan, formulating laws and policies to promote biodiversity mainstreaming, strengthening monitoring and evaluation of national implementation progress, promoting the development of biodiversity financing tools, and establishing partnerships with broad participation by the entire society.</p>

《生物多样性公约》第十五次缔约方大会通过了新的全球生物多样性战略, 即《昆明-蒙特利尔全球生物多样性框架》(简称《昆蒙框架》)。随之通过的还包括《&lt;昆蒙框架&gt;的监测框架》《规划、监测、报告和审查机制》《资源调动》《能力建设与发展和科技合作》《遗传资源数字序列信息》等一揽子成果文件。《公约》缔约方需要在国内执行《昆蒙框架》及其一揽子成果。为支持我国执行《昆蒙框架》, 本文简要回顾了《昆蒙框架》及其一揽子成果的制定进程, 解读了《昆蒙框架》及相关一揽子成果的主要内容, 评论了《昆蒙框架》对全球和国家的影响, 并就我国如何执行《昆蒙框架》提出了建议, 包括更新修订国家生物多样性战略行动计划, 制定法律和政策以促进生物多样性的主流化, 强化国家执行进展监测和评估, 促进生物多样性融资工具的开发, 建立全社会广泛参与的伙伴关系。

is an endangered ornamental shrub of the family Malvaceae that is endemic to the dry-hot valleys of Jinsha River in southwestern China. This species is a typical plant species with extremely small populations (PSESP). To support and monitor future conservation, develop management measures, and genotype this species, we performed extensive field studies together with genetic analyses. Specifically, we screened eleven microsatellite loci of 69 individuals of from four accessions. The population genetics analyses indicated that possesses high genetic diversity at both the population (0.6962-0.7293) and species level (0.7837) compared to other endemic/endangered species in China. The low differentiation of populations (Fst = 0.0971) and the high gene flow between populations of (Nm = 2.3236) could be due to its distribution along rivers in the hot-valleys of the Jinsha River and the wind-mediated dispersal of its seeds. Furthermore, the genetic diversity of is slightly positively correlated with geographic distance. Two populations are undergoing a genetic bottleneck, and require more specific attention from conservationists. Additionally, our analyses of the population genetics of demonstrate that the declines in populations are not the result of the internal genetics of these populations but due to external human activities over the past decades.© 2019 Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.