Plant Conservation Australia, through the feedback of delegates at the15th Australasian Plant Conservation Conference (APCC15) in August 2026, has issued an urgent call to action, warning that many of Australia’s most distinctive native plants are running out of time. Short funding cycles are working against the long-term conservation and partnerships needed to save them.
Researchers, First Nations rangers and knowledge holders, government scientists, botanic garden staff, consultants, practitioners, community volunteers and students in attendance at APCC15 provided feedback on the draft Declaration, both at the conference and in the weeks following.
The Port Douglas Declaration on Plant Conservation identifies the mismatch between conservation timeframes and grant cycles as a major barrier to recovery. Seed banking, disease-resistance breeding, ecological research, translocation and genuine partnership with Traditional Owners can require many years of sustained effort, while most grants operate on one- to three-year cycles. Change is needed to achieve recovery goals and to satisfy community expectations.
Among its major recommendations, the Declaration calls on the Australian Government to commission and permanently resource a comprehensive National Action Plan for Australian Plants. Plants make up around 70 per cent of Australia’s nationally listed threatened species, yet do not have the sustained national action-planning framework already established for major animal groups.
This will provide a blueprint for the next phase of plant conservation advocacy and action. Plant Conservation Australia will use its priorities and recommendations to guide engagement with governments, funding bodies, conservation organisations and other partners, and to press for practical changes in policy, investment and conservation delivery. Progress will be reviewed and reported at the next Australasian Plant Conservation Conference in 2028.
Professor Caroline Gross, President of Plant Conservation Australia, said: “Again and again at the conference we heard the same problem: we know much more about how to conserve threatened plants than we did twenty years ago, but the funding and policy settings have not kept pace. You cannot collect the data and then bank germplasm, breed disease-resistant plants, rebuild depleted populations or establish enduring partnerships with Traditional Owners on a two-year timetable.”
The full Port Douglas Declaration on Plant Conservation, including its priorities and recommendations for governments, funders and the plant conservation community, is available here.
