BRIN Gardens Conserve 361 Endangered Plant Species

Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) is actively conserving 361 endangered plant species, housing them in 2,370 living specimens across five botanical gardens. This significant collection, analyzed as of December 2025, highlights Indonesia's status as a megadiverse nation, home to approximately 30,466 native vascular plant species, or 8.7% of the global total, despite occupying only 1.3% of the world's landmass.

“

The number is very significant, considering Indonesia's land area is only 1.3 percent of the total land area in the world.

Lutfi Rahmaningtyas, an official at BRIN's Cibinong Botanical Garden, explained that the species are categorized according to the IUCN Red List, which includes extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable. The analysis revealed that endangered and vulnerable species constitute about 88.4% of the collection, indicating that while many still exist in the wild, their populations are declining.

“

Endangered and vulnerable categories dominate around 88.4 percent of all analyzed species, meaning most collected species still have populations in the wild, but are continuously declining.

Of the 361 endangered species, 214 are native to Indonesia, with 63 being endemic. "Endemic species are a national responsibility because they are only found in Indonesia. If these plants go extinct in Indonesia, they will not be found anywhere else in the world," Lutfi stated. The mangga kasturi (Mangifera casturi) is cited as an example of a species now only surviving in botanical garden collections.

“

Endemic species are a national responsibility because they are only found in Indonesia. If these plants go extinct in Indonesia, they will not be found anywhere else in the world.

Further analysis revealed that 260 of the 361 endangered species are unique to a single botanical garden. This poses a risk, as a disaster or disease outbreak at that specific location could lead to the loss of the entire collection for that species. To address this, BRIN will conduct field verifications, audit collection origins, assess propagation capabilities, and establish backup collections in other gardens. The agency emphasizes the importance of viewing its five gardens and 44 affiliated gardens as a unified national conservation network, with regional balance and specialization crucial for effectiveness.

“

If a disaster occurs at the botanical garden location or it is affected by a certain disease, then BRIN does not have a backup collection.