About the CREW Program

[CREW; Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers]

The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the Botanical Society of South Africa have partnered to co-finance the implementation of the CREW Programme. Twenty six CREW groups (based in the Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces) survey remaining pieces of natural vegetation for plant species of conservation concern and identify critical fragments of land with high numbers of threatened plants that are in need of conservation. 

Their surveys of the plant species present in these fragments allow for a thorough understanding of the distribution of populations of restricted range or endemic species. Data collected in these ongoing field surveys is invaluable for the annual updating of the Red List of South African plants, biodiversity conservation plans, protected area expansion strategies as well as reporting on the state of biodiversity nationally and internationally. 

CREW volunteers work with landowners, local municipalities and conservation authorities to promote the conservation of these sites. Plant specimens collected by volunteers help professional botanists to describe and classify plants. 

Since the start of the CREW programme in 2003, volunteers have discovered several plant species new to science, as well as many rediscoveries of plants not seen for decades.