Conference Topics

Theme 1: BGs – Knowledge Centres supporting society

  • BGs are research infrastructures - living collections on 1st place as well as specialist staff, furthermore buildings and equipment
  • BGs provide knowledge for the society on wide scale – botany, ecology, agriculture/horticulture, sustainability, green infrastructure, green/smart city, etc.
  • BGs support by their infrastructures and knowledge several fields of economy, agronomy, industry, etc.

Theme 2: Strategy – management – operation

  • BGs are living museums need strategic thinking, permanent development, professional management on every activities and daily operation as well
  • BGs maintain and exhibit living collections and all the necessary (garden) infrastructure for all of their main linking activities: education, research, nature and built heritage conservation, ecotourism and recreation, cultural events
  • BGs have different owners (e.g. state, municipality, private, etc.) and operational institutes (e.g. research, university, etc.) with different emphasises on main activities
  • BGs have to optimize not only their own work but have to intend to harmonize it with external environmental, economic, social and other impacts and demands as well
  • BGs have to intend to as sustainable operation as possible and display good (own) examples for the public

Round table: Current challenges for BGs - moderated conversation with invited partners

  • Saving functions of „classic” BGs in the XXIst Century
  • BGs importance as national strategic wealth
  • Expectations of the society from BGs
  • Rational separation of strange and acceptable demands vs. social pressure
  • Suggestions for the solutions of challenges
  • New directions for braking out

Theme 3: Education

  • BGs provide diverse professional education programmes on nursery, elementary, secondary, high, graduate and post-graduate level as well as support teachers and educators in knowledge transfer about plant kingdom, biodiversity, ecology, sustainability, horticulture, etc.
  • BGs ensure attractive environment rich in information and experiences for lifelong self-learning for the public from nursery aged children till elderly people
  • BGs sensitize people for nature, make them more respectful for other living beings from small to big, from visible to invisible, etc. and by this to each other, raise people’s environmental consciousness
  • BGs help to understand operation, behaviour, etc. of living individuals and living systems on higher dimensions, complexity (e.g. community), etc.

Theme 4: Conservation

  • BGs are gene banks, biodiversity hotspots growing and saving high quantity of native and non-indigenous plant taxa
  • BGs are key institutes of nature conservation mainly by their ex situ conservation and repatriation activities of endangered taxa
  • A significant number of BGs themselves are protected area as nature conservation area and/or listed built heritage (e.g. historic garden)
  • BGs have important role as scientific workshops in several research and results on positive (natural) and negative (e.g. invasion) processes