Botanic garden accreditation in Australasia – outcome of BGANZ workshop Mark Richardson and Janelle Hatherly, botanical consultants 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: 1. help botanic gardens, and particularly regional botanic gardens, target activities that best fit the purpose/definition of a botanic garden; 2. 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; 3. provide a framework to promote a botanic garden’s achievements, needs and practices to funding bodies, government and other supporters; 4. ensure that money acquired will be used to develop a garden for the reason it is there; 5. provide constructive and positive feedback throughout the accreditation process; 6. ensure that a change of management within any botanic garden (or above), does not alter the purpose of the botanic garden without good reason; 7. 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.
12
the botanic gardener | ISS 43 November 2015