Indonesia Conserves 361 Endangered Plant Species Across Botanical Gardens

Indonesia's commitment to preserving its rich biodiversity is highlighted by the National Research and Innovation Agency's (BRIN) successful conservation of 361 endangered plant species. These species are maintained as 2,370 living specimens across five BRIN botanical gardens, according to data compiled through December 2025.

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This figure is very significant, considering Indonesia's landmass covers merely 1.3 percent of the global total.

BRIN's Coordinator of Living Biological Collection Processing, Lutfi Rahmaningtyas, emphasized Indonesia's status as a mega-biodiversity country, home to approximately 30,466 native vascular plant species. This represents a remarkable 8.7 percent of the world's total vascular flora, despite Indonesia's landmass constituting only 1.3 percent of the global total.

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The endangered and vulnerable categories account for roughly 88.4 percent of all analyzed species, indicating that while most collected species still exist in the wild, their populations continue to decline.

The analysis evaluated species across IUCN Red List categories, including critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable. Notably, about 88.4 percent of the analyzed species fall into the endangered and vulnerable categories, indicating declining wild populations. Of the 361 endangered species, 214 are native to Indonesia, with 63 being endemic, meaning they are found nowhere else on Earth and represent a critical national responsibility for conservation.

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

Concerns remain, however, as 260 of the conserved species exist in only a single botanical garden. This single-site vulnerability poses a risk of complete loss should a disaster or disease affect that location. To mitigate this, BRIN plans to verify specimen conditions, audit collection origins, assess propagation viability, and establish duplicate collections across other gardens. The agency aims to create a mutually supportive national conservation network, emphasizing regional balance, specialization, and synergy among its gardens and affiliated sites.

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If a disaster occurs at the location of that botanical garden or if they are affected by certain diseases, BRIN does not have a backup collection.