Prior to the pandemic, Kew, Herbarium Bogoriense, Universitas Surya and Universitas Nusa Cendana had planned to carry out multiple in person, in Indonesia workshops on plant ID, species redlisting and seed banking. This was part of a wider NERC/Newton Fund/Mendikbudristek grant awarded in 2019. A (if not THE) major success of the project was that our workshops were all still carried out ….. online.

With contributions from staff at RBG Kew and Wakehurst place we carried out the entire curriculum with some extras including Malesian biogeography, how to establish forest plots, how to collect herbarium specimens and spatial analysis.

Each course was well attended (beyond our initial remit) by participants across Indonesia’s islands. Satisfaction scores were consistently high, and the courses have resulted in further seed bank training in person across Java and more redlisting as part of the West Papua Tropical Important Plant Areas project.