The irresistible target meets the unachievable objective: what have 8 years of GSPC implementation taught us about target setting and achievable objectives?

We review the available information regarding progress towards the Targets of the Global Strategy of Plant Conservation (GSPC). The diverse review processes are inconsistent in their evaluation of how successful implementation has been. Differences between national and global perspectives are key to understanding these discrepancies. There are also differences of implementation at national and global levels. The greater part of GSPC implementation is at national level and reliable monitoring of progress requires consistency of national reporting against a baseline, over time. The critical limitation to assessing implementation success objectively is the lack of baselines and mechanisms for measuring and monitoring progress. Targets tended to be more effective in stimulating conservation action when they identified outcomes that could be delivered primarily by a single community or discipline and where there was a clear way of identifying progress, gaps and success. If a Target is to mobilize and focus resources to achieve tangible conservation outcomes, active participation of actors who are closely aligned to the scope of the Target may be more important than whether the Target is actually achievable. (C) 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 166, 250-260.