Abstract
Deaccessioning in collections can be controversial because of the value associated with some taxa and their conservational, historical, educational, display and research significance within the collection. Twenty-one horticultural institutions completed a survey on the protocols for deaccessioning plant material. The resulting data were collated to provide a comparison of the different approaches institutions take towards deaccessioning their collections. This study has identified that conservation and education are the most important factors in managing garden collections. Accession data of high quality is an essential part of managing a collection, but poor accession data should not be a reason to deaccession plants. Space constraints are the primary factor behind the deaccessioning of collections. This paper is a summary of the research project completed by the author for the BSc in Horticulture with Plantsmanship at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE).
Highlights
Deaccessioning is fraught with paradoxes, oxymorons, and subjectivism (Paradoxia Epidemica cited in Stam, 1982).The removal of an item from an existing collection – deaccessioning – has historically been a controversial topic and continues to be so
Several studies (Greene, 2006; Society of American Archivists, 2017) agree that it is an essential process within garden collections when it comes to managing space, time and resources
A botanic garden is described by Rae (1995) and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) (2012) as a scientific and educational facility that is open to the public, keeps plant records, maintains labels and undertakes some type of research
Summary
Deaccessioning is fraught with paradoxes, oxymorons, and subjectivism (Paradoxia Epidemica cited in Stam, 1982).The removal of an item from an existing collection – deaccessioning – has historically been a controversial topic and continues to be so. A botanic garden is described by Rae (1995) and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) (2012) as a scientific and educational facility that is open to the public, keeps plant records, maintains labels and undertakes some type of research. It must deliver elements of public education, engage in active in situ and ex situ conservation, and provide horticultural training. Many botanic gardens identify their purpose as being to educate visitors on plant exploration and introduction, research, and conservation of both natural habitats and ex situ collections (Frediani, 2009). Plant material that enters RBGE is collected legally and in strict accordance with the laws and agreements governing plant collection and export, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Nagoya Protocol and any additional laws regarding wild-collected material (WCM) (Thomas & Watson, 2000)
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