Mark Richardson and Janelle Hatherly, botanical consultants, conducted a workshop as part of 7th BGANZ Congress “Connecting with Communities” 25-28 October 2015 in Wollongong.

The outcomes of this were then written up in Issue 43 Nov 2015 BGANZ’s THE BOTANIC GARDENer magazine for botanic garden professionals. The theme for this issue was 'The Role of Professional Networks'. Additional material from the presentation has been added.

Janelle Hatherly 2021

Abstract

Since 2002, when botanic gardens worldwide committed to a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, an emphasis has been on exhibiting plants to promote an appreciation of biodiversity and environmental conservation through recreational learning. How effectively are our current living displays fulfilling this agenda? Are we botanic gardens in name only?

Anyone can call any garden a botanic garden and this applies both in Australia and overseas. While botanic gardens like Chicago Botanic Garden and the Adelaide Botanic Gardens have acquired accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, it is not something within reach of most Australian or New Zealand botanic gardens and not something other Australian botanic gardens, big or small, have sought.

So as to maintain and raise the standard of Australian botanic gardens, and to provide clear standards for new gardens, developing an Australian accreditation system seems to be something that needs to be considered seriously. In fact, our failure to provide a standard for something called a botanic garden in Australia has possibly resulted in many of them receiving less support than they should, with the majority of councils and governments unable or unwilling to distinguish them (and their needs) from recreational parks. Such accreditation must not be viewed as a way of establishing an elite group but rather enabling botanic gardens to be better appreciated, better supported and therefore better able to achieve their mission. Such a move could also provide a lead for other countries throughout the world.

Introduction

A workshop was held at the recent BGANZ Congress to discuss the concept of accreditation and whether it is something to be explored by the Australasian botanic gardens’ community. Setting best practice standards and benchmarking are currently high on the international agenda for cultural institutions.

What is accreditation?

Accreditation is a process in which the confirmation of agreed characteristics of an organisation’s competency or credibility is recognised. Such confirmation is usually provided by a peer group best positioned to ascertain that the organisation in question meets the agreed standards. BGANZ and/or Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Incorporated (CHABG Inc.) could fulfil this role.

The possible benefits of accreditation for Australasian botanic gardens are to:

help botanic gardens, and particularly regional botanic gardens, target activities that best fit the purpose/definition of a botanic garden;
help highlight the importance of any botanic garden as a valuable collection (similar to a museum or art gallery) and not just as a public park;
provide a framework to promote a botanic garden’s achievements, needs and practices to funding bodies, government and other supporters;
ensure that money acquired will be used to develop a garden for the reason it is there;
provide constructive and positive feedback throughout the accreditation process;
ensure that a change of management within any botanic garden (or above), does not alter the purpose of the botanic garden without good reason;
showcase a botanic garden’s accredited status to tourism bodies and the wider community.

While many botanic gardens have achieved several of the above through their strategic and visionary plans, national standards for accreditation could assist all botanic gardens in Australasia.

The museum world has already embraced the accreditation process and, as living museums, a number of botanic gardens in the United States have become accredited through the American Alliance of Museums. The Botanic Gardens of South Australia are the only botanic gardens outside of the USA to have obtained this accreditation.

In 2008 Museums Australia, a national organisation for the museums sector, developed National Standards for Australian Museums and Galleries.

This has been revised and improved over the years and Version 1.4 lists nine guiding principles (each with standards, benchmarks, tips and resources) and looks at three important aspects:

Part A: Managing the museum

Part B: Involving people

Part C: Developing a significant collection

This excellent document has successfully been used for an accreditation program in Victoria – called the Museum Accreditation Program (MAP). Aligned to the National Standards, MAP assists museums to achieve similar outcomes to those listed above. As can be seen at Museum Accreditation Program, much of the thinking that would be relevant to national standards for Australasian botanic gardens has already been done.

Feedback and suggestions from the workshop

If the botanic garden community is mission-driven, rather than market-driven, then the idea of developing standards would be worthwhile.
A peer review process could be run through the BGANZ Council. However, as regional gardens with limited resources were potentially underrepresented at the workshop, it could be important to discuss accreditation more broadly with regional groups.
Accreditation should not be seen as developing an elite group but rather as a process owned by the whole BGANZ membership. The establishment of any taskforce would need to take this into account.
By providing standards for its members, BGANZ would provide a strong reason for membership. As such it could help lift the profile of BGANZ’s brand across Australasia.
Standards are not ‘God given’ and there is a need to look to those gardens that are effectively meeting an agreed Australasian definition of a botanic garden.
A checklist of useful criteria is useful for all gardens, however it is important that under-resourced or small gardens aren’t excluded or marginalised. Levels could be established within each criterion.
With the development of national standards, more emphasis could be given to providing botanic gardens with a toolkit for improvements and upgrades to help leverage funding.

Some of the other important questions and comments that came from the workshop were:

What are we trying to get out of accreditation?
·What is an A-grade botanic garden?
Does BGANZ see accreditation as something possible – can we articulate it? Can we be a leader in this field?
How will accreditation standards be measured?
Who will audit a garden for accreditation purposes?
The process (or journey) is as important as getting accreditation.
Accreditation must not be to the detriment of future development of botanic gardens. Extreme bureaucracy should be avoided at all costs.
Botanic gardens want to set themselves apart and getting the standards is important.

The discussion also raised the significance of heritage characteristics in our gardens as part of the accreditation criteria. Another role that accreditation could play is to assist with disaster planning by highlighting any of the gaps in a garden’s risk management program.

Where to from here?

The botanic garden accreditation process should start by looking at current museum principles and practices rather than reinventing the wheel. Suggestions for other organisations to look into were: Green Flag, Parks Forum and International Accreditation for Arboreta as well as the benchmarking work of the American Public Gardens Association.

Based on this research and further consideration of the questions coming from the workshop, guidelines and standards for botanic gardens could be drafted. A taskforce could be set up to determine what would meet the different aspects within each criteria/definition. A survey or questionnaire could be prepared and distributed to test standards across the sector.

If the accreditation process is holistically supported, the next step would be to agree on and publish Australasian botanic garden standards. To become accredited, museums spend 2–3 years developing procedures, policies and practices to meet recognised museum standards.

A national peer group should be agreed on to assess and determine whether an accreditation proposal meets the standards. Through BGANZ training, advice and information could be provided to assist gardens in meeting Australasian botanic garden standards.

Conclusion

As the Australian National Botanic Garden’s website quite bluntly states, “No agency gives legal accreditation to botanic gardens, anyone can call any garden a botanic garden and no one can stop them“. To raise and maintain the credibility of Australasian botanic gardens – as well as clearly setting them apart from parks, the development of an Australasian botanic garden accreditation system, or at least botanic gardens standards, needs to be considered seriously.

Botanic garden accreditation in Australasia

Abstract

Introduction

What is accreditation?

Where to from here?

Conclusion

Bringing learning to life