Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

A total of 148 plant species are endemic to the country, of which 50 are present on Príncipe and 123 on São Tomé. 25 are endemic to both Islands [ ] 196 Benefits of in-situ and ex-situ conservation methods In-situ conservation — the conser- vation of plants and animals in their natural communities — is a funda- mental part of a country’s system of conservation of its genetic resources, since it ensures that natural evolu- tionary processes, and changes, re- sulting from the interaction with the physical and cultural environment, are maintained, allowing the gener- ation of genetic variation resulting from the adaptation to the environ- mental and social changes. When this process is not possible, ex-situ conservation is practiced by removing part of the population from the threatened habitat and carrying it to a new location, which can be a wild area such as a sanctuary or a captive area such as a zoo, botanical garden or other similar site. Implementing efforts to enhance in-situ conservation, the government of São Tomé and Príncipe created four protected areas, corresponding to 30 per cent of national territory. This is the case of Obô Natural Park of São Tomé and the Príncipe Natural Park, whose task it is to protect the great mountain and lowland ecosys- tems, as well as the respectively asso- ciated species on the STP archipelago. The protected areas ensure that the remaining dense forests and rugged relief is maintained, uninhabited and relatively pristine. The Integral Reserve of Tinhosas Islets (15ha) was then created, togeth- er with the Reserve of Rolas Islet, (6ha). From a biological and natural- istic point of view, among other ob- jectives, these protected areas aimed at the preservation and conservation of coastal forest and marine ecosys- tems, as well as the promotion of the orderly use of the territory and its natural resources, in order to ensure continuity of the evolutionary pro- cesses that have occurred over several million years. There have been also some efforts to conserve some species ex-situ, to ensure the genetic preser- vation (and potential) of endangered species in their natural habitat. The country already has a bo- tanical garden with more than 400 specimens of endemic flora, and a herbarium with more than 1,000 plant samples collected during sev- eral botanical expeditions inside the parks. The objective of creating the botanical garden (associated with the herbarium) was to encourage tourism and recreation, gather phenologi- cal data, environmental education, the teaching of systematic botany, awareness of conservation, and the ex-situ conservation of endangered species, through a set of live samples for scientific research. L ocated at the Gulf of Guinea, the archipelago of São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) has a volcanic origin and consists of two islands and several islets. The two main islands cover an area of just over 1,000 km² (São Tomé with 859 km² and Príncipe with 142 km 2 ). On the whole, the country is mountainous, with the higher proportion below 800 m. The highest point is the Pico of São Tomé, reaching 2,024m above sea level. Despite having a relatively small area, the particular orography and geographic situation led to the speciation of a unique biological diversity, with various types of ecosystems and endemic species. Blue waxbill Caroline Granycome on flickr Sao Tome and Principe