HUANG Hongwen attends Celebration of Kew's 250th Anniversary and Gives a Keynote Address

On October 12-16, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's 250th anniversary celebration was held at the Wakehurst Place, London. There were over 200 people from all over the world, including directors of many botanical gardens and research institutions, well-known botanists, officials and representatives of civil society organizations, attended this celebration. Dr. HUANG Hongwen, the director of South China Botanical Garden, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was invited as a special guest to attend the celebration.

During the event, Kew held a conference on "plant conservation for the next decade". The themes for sessions include "plant conservation: policy and politics," "frontiers of plant conservation technology", "plant conservation and agriculture", "plant conservation: management and recovery "," plant protection and human cultures", and "plant protection, what can we afford to lose?". The delegates conducted a deep discussion on plant conservation and explored the future prospects for international development strategy.

On the morning of October 14, Dr. Huang gave a presentation on "phylogeography, conservation, germplasm discovery" at the conference. He reviewed the bio-geographic distribution pattern, plant protection, and exploitation and utilization of crop genetic resources in China. He also put forward the sustainable development strategy in the future. His report was highly welcomed by participants. Huang was also invited to attend the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership Reception during the celebration.