Derewnicka, L; Vergou, A; Moussouri, T; Fernández Rodríguez, A; (2015) Caring for your community: A manual for botanic gardens. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI): London, UK.

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Abstract

This manual represents the results of a recent study which is part of BGCI’s Communities in Nature initiative: an ongoing strategic programme that began in 2009 with the overall aim of supporting botanic gardens to grow their social role. Growing a social role involves ‘botanic gardens developing their commitment to working with their local communities on common issues of social and environmental importance, for the enduring benefit of those communities, the gardens themselves, and towards a sustainable future for our planet’ (Vergou and Willison, 2013). Such a role is inherently linked with achieving social justice and social inclusion – and that, as Cameron (2006) explains, is usually understood in relation to social exclusion as defined by Walker and Walker (1997, p.8) as ‘the dynamic process of being shut out, fully or partially, from any of the social, economic, political and cultural systems which determine the social integration of a person in society.’ Over the years through Communities in Nature it became apparent that botanic gardens do already address social issues, but that they are often unable to clearly articulate the importance of the work they do and the wider impact they have on society. This manual aims to address this gap. The nature of social issues, or problems, is an area that sociology, psychology, political sciences and other fields study and attempt to define. For the purposes of this manual we consider social issues to be ‘conditions that are harmful, complex (the solution is unknown) and characterized by a lack of consensus or agreement’.

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