Effectively combating the biodiversity crisis requires coordinated conservation efforts. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and numerous partners have established Global Conservation Consortia (GCC) to collaboratively develop and implement comprehensive conservation strategies for priority threatened plant groups. Through these networks, institutions with specialized collections and staff can leverage ongoing work to optimize impact for threatened plant species. ThegenusEricaposes a challenge similar in scale to that of the largest GCC group, Rhododendron, but almost 700 of them around 800 known species ofEricaare concentrated in a single biodiversity hotspot, of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) ofSouth Africa. Many species are known to be threatened, suffering the immediate impacts of habitat destruction, invasive species, changes in natural fire regimes, and climate change. Efforts to counter these threats face general challenges: disproportionate burden of in situ conservation falling on a minority of the community, limited knowledge of species-rich groups, shortfalls in assessing and monitoring threats, lack of resources for in situ, and limitations of knowledge for ex-situ conservation efforts in communicating the value of biological diversity to a public who may never encounter it in the wild. GCCEricabrings together the world’sEricaexperts, conservationists, and the botanical community, including botanic gardens, seed banks, and organizations in Africa, Madagascar, Europe, and the United States, Australia, and beyond. We are collaboratively pooling our unique sets of skills and resources to address these challenges in working groups for conservation prioritization, conservation in situ, horticulture, seed banking, systematic research, and outreach.
