‘Race against time’ to protect diversity of potentially life-saving plant species

Plants could hold key to curing various diseases, including Covid-19, botanist warns. By Kate Ng

A view of the Serrania de las Quinchas forest in Colombia (Mauricio Diazgranados)

Plant diversity must be a priority for conservation efforts as they could hold solutions to various kinds of disease, including Covid-19, a biologist and botanist has said.

Dr Mauricio Diazgranados, who heads the Colombia Bio Programme at the Royal Botanical Garden (RBG), Kew, said conserving nature-rich areas could provide sustainable livelihoods for locals as well as benefits for all of humankind.

The programme was recently established by the Colombian government to allow for sustainable economic use of the country’s rich biodiversity resources. In partnership with Kew and other organisations in Colombia, research is being carried out to explore untouched parts of the country, which is the second most diverse country in the world – with over 30,000 plant and lichen species.