This update is to clarify that we are not advocating to repatriate herbarium specimens from the Kew Herbarium. Our previous petition update was to draw attention to recent newspaper publicity that appeared, discussing the possibility of specimen repatriation as in line with “decolonisation of the collections” proposed by the Director of Kew (Richard Deverell). In the same newspaper the link was made between specimen repatriation and the Director’s and Kew Trustees’ stated intentions to move the Herbarium to a green field near Reading. This move could increase the calls for repatriation, as it would make the Herbarium less accessible to visitors from the countries of origin of the material.

However, there are many excellent reasons to keep the herbarium specimens together in the Kew Herbarium as they are now:

1. The value of a global Herbarium like Kew is that any researcher can easily study plants from all over the world in one location with excellent facilities. Thanks to the experienced curator-botanist team herbarium specimens can be efficiently retrieved and their study supported. Access for serious researchers from all over the world is free, and Kew often supports such visitors in other ways.

2. If material was repatriated, it would require extra travel for the world’s botanists who need to see the physical specimens in multiple countries (digital images help but usually are not a substitute). This would increase the total carbon footprint of the world's collections.

3. Some countries of origin or some institutes may not yet have facilities to store the material long term in suitable conditions.

4. Access to material is sometimes more difficult in herbaria of the countries of origin as governmental research permits for visitors can be required, whereas no such permits are needed to study the specimens at Kew. In this sense, Kew is truly a global facility for the benefit of botanists worldwide.