with Chad Husby
Monday, October 19, 2020

For most of human history, the horticultural and botanical communities have enjoyed a high degree of freedom in acquisition and exchange of living plant material. This was facilitated by the “common heritage” approach to plant germplasm that largely prevailed until the early 1990s.  However, developments in international property rights and desires of biodiversity-rich nations to avoid exploitation have led to a quite different international approach to plant exchange. Botanic gardens and the horticultural community have struggled to respond to these changes, but much confusion remains. In this talk, Chad will place the new legal challenges in context and discuss the opportunities that remain to preserve or revive some of the best aspects of the old system of free exchange while addressing the need to adapt to the modern framework.

Click below to see our speaker’s presentation preceded by our monthly plant forum. You can find more videos on our YouTube channel.

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