A CLP project team in Egypt supported by a 2022 Leadership Award (a continuation award offered to CLP alumni only to allow them to scale up their projects) has made great strides towards protecting globally threatened plants.
The team’s surveys covered over 100 key sites and 20 protected areas (totalling approximately 175,000 km²). They identified 49 endemic Egyptian flora species and revealed 38 out of the 49 species (77.5%) are threatened with extinction globally.
Egyptian landscapes harbour several threatened plant species © Dr Karim Omar
The project team co-developed management plans for eight officially globally threatened species, and established 320 stable seedlings of Primula boveana and 20 rooted branches of Rosa arabica (both Critically Endangered), achieving high survival rates (up to 85%) of R. arabica and positive survival rates of other species.
They also trained 200 students in biodiversity monitoring; reached >1,500 individuals through lectures, seminars, and workshops; and published educational guidelines (presented at COP27).
Seedling nurseries © Dr Karim Omar