Paul Smith

Dr Paul Smith is the Secretary General of Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). BGCI is the largest plant conservation network in the world, comprising 650 member institutions in 100 countries. BGCI leads the Global Tree Assessment, and recently published the State of the World’s Trees Report showing that one third of the world’s 60,000 tree species are threatened with extinction. With a career spanning 30 years in conservation, Paul joined BGCI as Secretary General in March 2015. Prior to joining BGCI, Paul was Head of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) for nine years. Paul trained as a plant ecologist, and is a specialist in the plants and vegetation of southern Africa. He is a Trustee of the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Co-Chair of IUCN’s Plant Conservation Committee and Chair of England’s Arboreta Advisory Committee.