The State Council has approved a plan to establish a national botanical garden in China’s capital Beijing, according to an official reply released on Jan 4.

To be jointly built by the National Forestry and Grass Administration, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences and government of Beijing, the national botanical garden will showcase harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, respect nature by putting conservation first and share benefits.

The plan underlines the ex-situ protection of plants and systematic collection, preservation, high-level research and sustainable utilization of plant groups while giving full play to its multiple functions.

According to the plan, plant knowledge and garden culture should be integrated and showcased so stories of Chinese plants can be depicted well, and the charm of Chinese culture and biodiversity can be reflected. Independent innovation should be strengthened in line with international standards, thus further developing it into a world-class national botanical garden with Chinese features.

Construction plans of the national botanical garden shall be formulated, and focus on the protection of plants and scientific research functions, the plan said, adding requirements for the capital’s management and control should be implemented while construction scale should also be reasonably controlled.

Based on existing resources from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Science and Beijing Botanical Garden, the national botanical garden will be divided into two areas with unified planning, construction and standards, and feature key functional areas, collection venues, scientific and research platforms and supporting infrastructures.