Conservation for the Next Generation!
Protect endangered plants in the wild from the many threats to them, of which habitat loss and climate change are central.
OYA and the GSPC: KMGBF Target 21
Oya's work contributes directly to Target 21 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), adopted at CBD CoP16 in Cali, Colombia in 2024. Target 21 calls for data, knowledge and awareness of biodiversity to be made accessible to the public, and for citizen participation in its monitoring and conservation.
Oya addresses two distinct Voluntary Complementary Actions under Target 21 through two separate resources, each described below.
OYA Educational Resources
GSPC Action 21(a) -- Public Awareness
Raising public awareness of the value of plant diversity
Oya's educational content -- including the learning materials on threatened plant morphology, the OyaTees range and the broader website -- is designed to bring plant conservation to audiences who may never encounter it through formal science channels. The resources make the case, accessibly and visually, that plants matter: to ecosystems, to climate, to human life.
Why this fits the GSPC action:
Directly implements Action 21(a):
"Develop or implement programmes to raise public awareness of the value of plant diversity and the ecosystem services that they provide."
Targets the general public -- not specialists -- expanding the audience for plant conservation beyond the scientific community.
Aligned with the KMGBF's recognition that awareness and behavioural change are prerequisites for meaningful conservation progress.
OYA Portraits app
GSPC Action 21(e) -- Public Documentation
Public documentation and observation of threatened plant species
Oya Portraits enables the public to observe and document individual threatened plants -- recording where they grow, why they are threatened and how they are faring. Each portrait builds a named, traceable record of a species that can connect with and support conservation monitoring and research.
Why this fits the GSPC action:
Action 21(e) calls for work that supports "identifying, documenting, monitoring and conserving plant diversity, in cooperation with scientific institutions." Oya Portraits contributes directly to the documenting and identifying elements of this, and is designed to connect with scientific institutions rather than operate independently of them.
It moves the public from passive awareness to active contribution -- generating records that have conservation value beyond the individual encounter.