Plant native instead
The Problem
About 70% of the invasive alien plants present in Brazil were introduced for ornamental purposes. In many areas, gardens as well as public parks and city squares are nearly 100% composed by non-native plants. The lack of native plants is harmful to native species, from pollinators to birds and other animals, and contributes to generate an ecological imbalance. If most people would choose native plants for their gardens, they would contribute to ecosystem functioning, to wildlife in general, to ex-situ conservation of rare or endangered species and even to generate seeds that can be dispersed to degraded areas in the surroundings, facilitating restoration. People need to know which ornamental plants are invasive and have information on better alternatives - this implies a change in behavior towards sustainable gardening and urban management.
Our Proposal
An app for cell phones that includes information on ornamental plants that are invasive as well as proposes alternative species for gardening and urban landscaping will make it easy for people to check the status of plants available in nurseries when deciding on species to purchase. This app will also be useful for landscapers and architects when designing projects that include ornamental plants. We maintain a national database for invasive alien species in Brazil, which will be the source of data; and we have several studies on potential alternatives to be suggested per type of ecosystem. We will then promote this app to associations of urban landscapers, architects, plant producers and consumers to facilitate informed decisions and behavior change.
We Assume that...
People who work with ornamental plants are mostly unaware of invasive capacity, but switch to non-invasive species once they realize the problem (from personal experience)
The universe of ornamental plants is so vast (hundreds or thousands of species) that it is not difficult to promote change - different from species in forestry or even forage grasses.
The ornamental plant sector is well organized and it is easy to establish a good communication route to promote the product and the desired outcomes.
Invasive ornamental plants are pervasive and escape from gardens into natural areas, harming the environment and ecosystem functions on which we depend.
Among the advantages of native plants as ornamental: they are adapted to the local climate, so do not require watering, an important advantage in a world with water shortage.
Having an app to disseminate this information will be awesome because nothing like this has been done before and people who love plants will love it!
Constraints to Overcome
Many people who produce plants, design projects or do urban management do not know which plants can be harmful to the environment, and make choices based on cost and availability. The app should make it easy for them to find the information and recommend equivalent plants that will be positively inserted in the landscape.
Current Work
Develop the app based on the data we already have.
Current Needs
Find a developer with experience who wants to work on the app with us.