Centres of Plant Diversity (CPD) was established in 1998 as a joint classification initiative between the
World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
(WWF) and the
International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...
intended to identify the areas in the world that are of the highest conservation value in terms of protecting the highest number of plant species.
In 1998 there were 234 Centers of Plant Diversity registered across the globe, each bearing a rich diversity of endemic plant species that are of great value to humans and their native ecosystems that tend to be under unique
edaphic
Edaphology (from Greek , ''edaphos'', "ground",, '' -logia'') is concerned with the influence of soils on living beings, particularly plants.
It is one of two main divisions of soil science, the other being pedology. Edaphology includes the stu ...
conditions.
EarthTrends: The Environmental Information Portal, Endemic Bird Areas and Centers of Plant Diversity in Forests
Many CPD's are enlisted as a part of a legally protected area though they do not necessarily have legal protection automatically assigned to them. A CPD Is recognised primarily as a portion of a greater protected area that holds particularly significant biodiversity, likely to have a high number of irreplaceable plant species which are of high vulnerability.{{cn, date=May 2018
See also
*World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
*International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...
* Protected areas
*Biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
References
External links
A-Z of Areas of Biodiversity Importance: Centres of Plant Diversity (CPB)
World Wildlife Fund Official Site; Safeguarding the Natural World: Forests
b
IUCN Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
Nature conservation organizations
Phytogeography