Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/1807/71883
The Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto offers graduate programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, forestry, and visual studies.
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Browsing Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design by Subject "ArbNet"
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Item The Importance of ArbNet Accreditation Program for Arboreta(2018) Wang, Geyi; Krigstin, Sally; McMann, JeffArboreta are botanical gardens dedicated to the growth, protection, and continuing research on woody plant species. The goal is to provide greenery to the community while promoting plant conservation and public education. Currently, no international network exists between arboreta to mitigate struggles and facilitate collaboration. The objective of this paper describes the obstacles to arboreta success and whether the international ArbNet Accreditation Program can help institutions reach goals and improve collection quality. Benefits of accreditation are hypothesized to be worth the efforts required to obtain membership to program. This paper can potentially act as a guide for institutions interested in joining the network while clarifying the potential returns they would receive. ArbNet utilizes industry-accepted standards as the criteria for four achievement levels. The program has no membership fee and accepts institutions of all sizes and backgrounds, including non-traditional arboreta. The inability for society to recognize the importance of woody species threatens arboreta management by limiting their ability to secure funds, which in turn affects research advancements and public attraction. ArbNet acts as a confirmation for the collection quality and management expertise that the arboreta can utilize as promotions to gain recognition and public interests. Such result is beneficial for smaller and non-arboreta institutions that may not have the connections to develop their collection or expertise to gain public attention. The inconsistency in arboreta quality assessment presents difficulties to evaluate the capacity of an arboretum to form collaborations. ArbNet simplifies this evaluation by presenting set standards and as a result strengthens trust and increases collaborative opportunities for arboreta. Formation of collaborations can secure species procurement, which improves the conservation valuation of the collection. With the assembly of resources, knowledge, and expertise, research advancements can hopefully progress to better mitigate against climate change and invasive species management. It was found that the benefits of the ArbNet Program for research collaboration, public engagement, and arboreta quality improvement outweighs the effort required to obtain accreditation, supporting the hypothesis.