The Caucasus is one of the world’s biodiversity centres
The Caucasus region is among the 25 global biodiversity centres and the most diverse temperate area in the Northern hemisphere. The Caucasus harbours a unique and very diverse flora and vegetation, with 25 % of endemic species. It has such unique vegetation types as the Colchic and Hyrcanian forests with an amazing number of relict trees. Besides, many wild crop relatives are valuable resources of the Caucasus.
About our initiative
The Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem (BGBM) and the leading botanical institutions from the South Caucasus countries have established the “Caucasus Plant Biodiversity Initiative” to strengthen scientific capacities and collaboration.
The overall objectives of the Initiative are
- Research on selected Caucasian plant groups
- Capacity-building in the fields of basic and applied sciences and improvement of scientific infrastructure
- Training and education
- Development of tools for monitoring and evaluating the Caucasian plant diversity at the molecular, species and ecosystem levels as a basis for conservation and land-use planning.
The long term scientific goals are to better understand the evolution of Caucasian plant diversity and the factors shaping diversity patterns at the population, species and ecosystem levels. The results are intended to support conservation and land-use planning, and sustainable use of plant diversity. We also want raise the public awareness of the importance of biodiversity and biodiversity research in the Caucasus.
The project “Developing Tools for Conserving the Plant Diversity of the Transcaucasus” is supported by the VolkswagenStiftung in the programme “Between Europe and the Orient”.
Founders:
