In its decision X/17, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted a consolidated update of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) for the decade 2011–2020 at its 10th Conference of the Parties held in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010. The updated GSPC includes five objectives and 16 targets to be achieved by 2020. Target 1 aims to complete the ambitious target of “an online flora of all known plants” by 2020. A widely accessible Flora of all known plant species is a fundamental requirement for plant conservation and provides a baseline for the achievement and monitoring of other targets of the Strategy. The previous (GSPC 2010) target 1 aimed to develop “a widely accessible working list of known plant species as a step towards a complete world flora,” and this target was achieved at the end of 2010, as The Plant List (http://www.theplantlist.org). Drawing from the knowledge gained in producing The Plant List, a project to create an online world Flora of all known plant species was initiated in 2012. A World Flora Online (WFO) Council has been formed with thirty six participating institutions world-wide who are diligently working to achieve the 2020 Target. The WFO portal is hosted at the Google Cloud and is online at http://www.worldfloraonline.org. WFO utilizes a taxonomic backbone of all vascular plants and bryophytes from orders to subspecies. Rapid progress is now being made toward incorporation of descriptive data, distributions and images. This poster will describe the vision, technical approach, progress to date and plans for this significant global project.
