Plants, People, Planet is delighted to announce Open Letters, a new format for groups of experts to present bold and succinct calls to action to those in positions to elicit and enact change, such as practitioners and policymakers.
Plants, along with the soils and biological communities they depend on, are under growing threat globally. How people use plants, protect them and restore the ecosystems in which plants play essential roles will be crucial to preventing ecological collapse and social instability.
Against this backdrop and among the overwhelming noise generated in the age of digital information and social media, there is a need for experts on plants and their associated biota to ensure their voices are heard by those in positions to make decisions and oversee meaningful and impactful change.
Open Letters outline a specific plant-focussed issue or challenge that the expert author team feels needs a new approach on the global stage based on insufficiently considered science-derived evidence and express this concisely in plain language for a broad readership.
Open Letters can accompany a research article submission to Plants, People, Planet that presents data or a perspective that adds scientific weight to the call to action presented in the companion Open Letter.
Authors of Open Letters may also serve as signatories to further endorse the key message of the piece. For example, please see Pilon et al. (2025), which has 137 authors and signatories.
We encourage authors to develop their case in the form of a short ‘elevator pitch’ to a journalist or policymaker.
We welcome proposals for Open Letters on an ongoing basis. If you have an idea for an Open Letter on a plant-focussed issue of broad importance, then please do get in touch.
Read the Editorial
Open Letters: Supporting positive change for plants, people and the planet
Simon J. Hiscock, Katie J. Field, Sarah Lennon, Paul Wilkin, Bennett John Young