Our missions
Ah, the botanist... he is always depicted in front of his herbarium, diligently cataloguing new species. But quite often, botanists choose to get involved in the conservation of these species, and in sharing their knowledge and discoveries.
All of our actions are driven by these three goals: to protect, explore and share. We have combined them to serve a greater purpose: to preserve plant biodiversity in a sustainable manner.
Protection
Saving endangered species
This is Klorane Botanical Foundation's primary purpose: to protect endangered plant species.
Saving endangered plants
How, concretely, can we prevent endangered plants from going extinct? We take two major approaches: the preservation of those that remain, and the reintroduction of those that have disappeared from an area.
Our rescue actions take various forms:
- the replanting of a species in an area from which it has disappeared
- the strengthening of a species' presence in a given location through planting or sowing
- the creation of banks of living plants and seeds
- the regeneration of extinct species using ancient seeds
- the protection of a species' habitat
- the propagation of seeds in vitro, in the lab, before replanting them in a natural setting
Exploration
Increasing our knowledge of the plant world
To protect our plants, we must first be familiar with them. To achieve this, we conduct exploratory missions all over the world to further botanical knowledge.
Discovering and studying to better protect plant biodiversity:
- the exploration of tropical old-growth forests
- the investigation of threatened natural areas
- the taking of inventories
- the creation of therapeutic gardens
- the restoration of herbariums
- the funding of botany theses
In our missions, the involvement of local organizations and inhabitants is always an essential element.
Sharing
Sharing botany
We strongly believe that knowledge is only of value when it is shared.
For us, this means introducing young children to botany, increasing the general public's awareness of nature conservation, and conducting actions for specialists.
The foundation develops educational materials and concrete actions:
- botany and sustainable development exhibits
- herbarium workshops
- the "Botanist's Seed" educational program
- the Botany for Change Award
We also make available, for amateurs and experts, a wide range of online botany resources:
- a media library of plant data
- mobile applications
- botany lessons
We carry out our actions with various partners: teachers, dispensary pharmacists, universities, botanical gardens and conservatories…
It's time to act!
Since the foundation was created, our efforts have been widely varied: the protection of medicinal plants in Argentina, an inventory of thousand-year-old olive trees in Greece, the conservation of species on Mauritius, helping thousands of children discover the botanical world...