Within the Arqus Verde initiative, the University of Wrocław’s botanical garden focused on strengthening practical cooperation among partner gardens and preparing the groundwork for a series of joint activities scheduled for 2026. During the first coordination phase, a joint online meeting was organised with representatives of all participating botanical gardens, during which the schedule of partner visits was collectively confirmed, the date of the main in-person coordination meeting in Poland was agreed and the thematic scope of the upcoming webinar series was defined:
- Annex II species in Arqus gardens – what do we conserve and why?
- Linking in situ and ex situ – cooperation with Natura 2000 sites
- Climate change and species conservation – scenarios for collections and reintroductions
- Between ethnobotany and conservation – natural and cultural heritage
- How to talk about threatened species? Education and OER for plant conservation
- From seed to reintroduction: ex situ best practices for threatened plant species
Each partner garden selected its own webinar topic, ensuring that the programme reflects the diverse expertise of the participating institutions while remaining aligned with the core Arqus Verde goals of biodiversity conservation, education and knowledge exchange.
To support the communication dimension of the initiative, the creation of short ‘green showcase’ videos prepared independently by each partner garden was also proposed. As an example and encouragement, a pilot video presenting everyday life in the Wrocław Botanical Garden was produced and shared, demonstrating a simple format that partners can easily replicate. This collaborative approach aims to build a shared visual resource that highlights the people, collections and activities of Arqus botanical gardens and can be disseminated publicly as part of the initiative’s outreach efforts. Overall, the completed coordination steps, confirmed activity schedule and jointly prepared communication materials provide strong confidence in the successful implementation of all planned Arqus Verde activities.