This book is about the conservation of genetic diversity of wild plants in situ in their natural surroundings, primarily in existing protected areas but also outside conventional protected areas. A lot of effort has been dedicated to conserving plant biodiversity, but most of this has focused on rare plant communities or individual species threatened with extinction. Similarly, while much has been done to collect and conserve crop genetic diversity ex situ in gene banks, very little consideration has been given to conserving intraspecific genetic diversity in situ and in particular while designing protected areas
