In May 2012 the 3rd Guangxi Orchid Symposium took place in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi, China, and in the Yachang National Orchid Nature Preserve in Leye County. There were 12 international and more than 80 Chinese participants, including the Vice Governor of Guangxi, Dr Chen Zhangliang, who is in charge of, among other things, biodiversity conservation in the province. Dr Mike Maunder of Florida International University spoke at the opening ceremony and gave a keynote presentation on IUCN's new reintroduction guidelines. In another keynote presentation Dr Richard Primack of Boston University gave an overview of global plant conservation. Dr Keping Ma, Professor at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced the newly launched Chinese biodiversity informatics platform. Other researchers presented studies on populations, pollination and conservation of Chinese wild orchids.
As well as providing a platform for the exchange of the latest research findings in orchid biology and conservation, the Guangxi Orchid Symposia bring decision-makers, natural-area managers, scientists and other stakeholders together. The symposium series has yielded several significant benefits. The 1st Symposium stimulated the promotion of the Yachang nature preserve to a national preserve of the State Forestry Administration of China, a category that includes national funding for protection. The 1st and the 2nd symposia also stimulated the establishment of the Yachang Orchid Research Center. The 3rd symposium promoted the idea of establishing a biodiversity centre in Guangxi and an international orchid research institute. Because Guangxi is one of the three provinces in China with the greatest biodiversity, these initiatives will have conservation significance at the provincial, national, and international levels.
