Doha, October 01 (QNA) - To achieve harmony between humans and nature and to emphasize the commitment of the international community to preserving the environment and natural diversity, the first horticultural exhibition was launched in 1960, which became known as the International Horticultural Expo.

In 1960, the first horticultural exhibition was held in the Netherlands under the name Rotterdam International Horticultural Exhibition, from March 25 to Oct. 25, 1960, and the story of the Horticultural Expo began from that date.

On its journey from 1960 in the Netherlands to 2023 in Doha, the Doha Horticultural Expo will be the first horticultural exhibition in the Middle East and North Africa region, addressing the urgent challenge of desertification and sustainability in a changing global climate.

Expo 2023 Doha will be held with the slogan "Green Desert, Better Environment", to encourage, inspire, and inform people about innovative solutions and reducing desertification. The theme will also be supported by four sub-topics - modern agriculture, technology and innovation, environmental awareness, and sustainability.

Horticulture exhibitions promote cooperation and exchange of knowledge and solutions between countries, horticultural producers, and agricultural industries by addressing fundamental issues related to healthy lifestyles, green economies, sustainable living, education, and innovation.

Horticultural exhibitions are organized by the host country and last for up to 6 months. Participants include countries and international organizations (official participants) as well as cities, regions, companies, civil society, and non-governmental organizations (informal participants).

The first horticultural exhibition in 1960 in Rotterdam received around 400,000 visitors as it was held on an area of 50 hectares.

The 1960 Horticultural Expo was the first horticultural exhibition held under the auspices of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and was officially recognized at the organization's 43rd General Assembly on May 5, 1959. It became the first edition and has since taken place every decade in the Netherlands.

With the motto "From Seed to Strength", the Floriade took place in Het Park, a public park, which was originally designed in 1852 as an English landscape park by the Dutch architect Zocher and his son.

One of the greatest legacies of Floriade Expo 1960 Rotterdam was the transformation of Het Park, which can still be seen today. Some of the garden displays in Het Park remain today, albeit in a more simplified form than during the Expo, including the wildlife gardens, the 18th century gardens and the Rhododendron Valley.

After the first edition of the Horticultural Expo, the second edition was held in 1963 in Hamburg, Germany, which witnessed around 5,400,000 visitors and was held on an area of 76 hectares from April 26 to Oct. 13, 1963. 

In 1964, the Horticultural Expo was organized in Vienna, Austria, on an area of 100 hectares. The exhibition, which was held from April 16 to Oct. 11, 1964, received more than 2,100,000 visitors.

The Expo formed part of Vienna's post-war urban development strategy and was inspired by similar horticultural exhibitions in Germany that aimed to create or re-establish urban green spaces. A total of 29 countries participated in the Expo, of which 12 designed their own national garden.

For visitors, the experience went beyond the horticultural exhibits and gardens; cultural events were held throughout the Expo, including open-air exhibitions and artistic performances on the Iris Lake.

The site became a new public park for Vienna. Retaining many of its original features with the Donauturm, the miniature railway, and the rosarium, the park is one of the largest and most popular green spaces in the city. After Vienna, and after a five-year stop, the Horticultural Expo was held in Paris in 1969 on an area of 28 hectares with the participation of 17 countries.

The exhibition lasted from April 23 to Oct. 5, 1969, and attracted around 2,400,000 visitors. The Paris Expo was held under the theme "Flowers of France and the World" and highlighted the promotion of awareness of nature and the measures necessary to protect it. It was also a major opportunity to increase the availability and quality of green spaces open to Parisians.

The Expo site was previously owned by the military, and the purpose of the Floralies project was to transform it into a botanical garden, permanently open to the public. The site was centered around a 4,500 m2 reflecting pool, which was bordered by the impressive valley of flowers, including tulips, cloves, poppies, rosebushes, geraniums, and pansies.

The largest water-plant garden in Europe was built, featuring a range of exotic species, including the American water lily and the Egyptian lotus. The Expo site also featured the three-hectare 'Pine-wood' with hardy perennials, an industrial and commercial section showcasing the latest machinery and equipment, and a children's park. During Paris Expo, special cultural events were organized.

In 1972, the Horticultural Expo returned to the Netherlands again, but this time it was held in the city of Amsterdam on an area of 75 hectares, where it attracted around 4,300,000 visitors from March 26 to Oct. 1, 1972. Amstel Park, located along the banks of the River Amstel in the south of Amsterdam, was created specifically for the event. Beatrix Park was also redesigned to display the remaining outdoor exhibitions, while the 12,000 m2 Amsterdam RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre hosted the indoor exhibitions.

The main site was the 70-hectare Amstel Park, where sections were designed according to horticultural specimens, which displayed more than 40,000 dahlias and more than 8,000 rhododendrons. Other important highlights at Amstel Park included the Lily Exhibition and the Butterfly Garden.

The themes of Expo Amsterdam ranged from exotic plants to international floral art and included a great variety of educational materials and entertainment. Only a year after Expo Amsterdam, the German city of Hamburg was the scene of the Horticultural Expo in 1973. The exhibition, which was held on an area of 76 hectares, lasted six months between April 27 to Oct. 7 and witnessed more than 5,800,000 visitors.

The Expo took place in Hamburg's "Planten un Blomen" park, as the Expo organizers drew on Hamburg's ecological planning strategy and the site undergone several upgrades and modifications with a focus on visitor experience. Art played a significant role in the Expo, with visitors enjoying a vast program of culture and entertainment throughout the 164 days of the Expo.

With 50 international participants, visitors were able to discover plants and gardens from across the world, with notable examples being Sweden's wooden playground, Italy's Tuscan landscape, and a perennial British garden. In Vienna again, in 1974, the Horticultural Expo was organized from April 18 to Oct. 14, on an area of 100 hectares with the participation of 30 countries.

The exhibition attracted approximately 2,600,000 visitors. Vienna organized the Expo as part of its strategy to develop green spaces in the city as the selected area for the Expo was a derelict industrial site, which needed considerable work to be transformed into a park.

As sulfur had been discovered nearby, organizers opted to develop the site as a spa park (Kurpark), thus including a health center, a thermal bath, and a hotel, in addition to the gardens and exhibition areas.

A total of six temporary exhibitions were held throughout the duration of the Expo. In total, 30 countries participated in the Expo, with 10 designing their own gardens in the circular "Garden of Nations". The Water Lily pond proved particularly popular among visitors, as well as the neighboring concert garden, where opera and music performances were regularly held.

The site also featured the "Party Garden", the "Utopian Garden", and the "Water Valley", as well as children's playgrounds inspired by a space theme. The site became a public park named Kurpark Oberlaa, named after the adjacent health resort with sunbathing meadows, a children's petting zoo, a love garden, and a flower maze. 

From Europe to North America, the Horticultural Expo was held in 1980 in Montreal, Canada from May 17 to Sep. 1, on an area of 40 hectares with the participation of 23 countries. According to the Expo’s organizers at the time, the Expo raised awareness of environmental problems and highlighted the importance for humans to live in a natural and healthy setting.

The Expo site was split between two venues; the 6,000 m2 indoor exhibition site located within the Olympic Velodrome, and the 40 hectares outdoor exhibition site on Notre Dame Island, an artificial island in the St. Lawrence River created for World Expo 1967.

The Floralies was the fourth major international event to be hosted on the island, following Expo 1967, the 1976 Olympic Games, and the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix.

The exhibition was divided into various sections presenting different aspects of horticulture, linked by a series of canals, seven bridges, rock gardens, and public squares.

In addition to the newly created gardens, seven pavilions from World Expo 1967 were renovated and used as exhibition spaces and lecture halls, while the international section displayed the horticultural specialties of countries from around the world.

Once again, the Horticultural Expo returned to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1982, this time from April 8 to Oct. 10, on an area of 50 hectares with the participation of 17 countries, where the exhibition attracted 4 million and 600 thousand visitors. The Expo took place in the Gaasper Park, a previously undeveloped area surrounding the artificial Gaasperplas Lake, to the west of the river Gaasp.

The site was chosen for its strategic location near two major motorways and adjacent to the terminus of one of Amsterdam’s new metro lines. Novel planting techniques were used with the use of fast-growing species in the years leading to the opening of the Floriade. Specifically designed as a recreation area for the city, the landscaping of the site intended to create a gradual transition from the built-up area to a semi-natural area and then a fully natural zone with wild plants on grazing land. Once again in Germany, Munich hosted the Horticultural Expo in 1983, from April 28 to Oct. 9, on an area of 72 hectares with the participation of 23 countries.

The Expo received a large number of visitors throughout its period, as the Expo received around 11,600,000 visitors. The Expo site was developed along a 3.5 km-long unregulated mixed-use plain in the western part of the city, to be known as "West Park". The development works involved moving 1.5 million cubic meters of soil and planting 6,000 large trees.

The resulting park was a newly created "natural" environment with mostly indigenous species, including lime trees and elm trees in the central part, and oaks and beeches in the border areas. With a total of 171 exhibits, the Expo featured 45 themed gardens and 23 national gardens. The latter in particular allowed visitors to discover a wide array of horticultural traditions from across the world.

In 1984, the English city of Liverpool hosted the first Horticultural Expo in Britain from May 2 to Oct. 14, on an area of 95 hectares with the participation of 29 countries. The Expo which received around 3,350,000 visitors was opened by Queen Elizabeth II with the aim to revitalize the city of Liverpool and its tourism industry. Much of the site, which was situated in the old south docks area, was derelict in the years before the Expo and underwent an extensive renovation project in preparation for the event. The 95-hectare apple-shaped site was divided into four principal areas.

The first was the permanent features, which included the Festival Hall, where the indoor exhibitions were hosted as well as 15 varied horticultural shows throughout the duration of the Expo. This area also featured water features, the marine esplanade, as well as the Pathway of Honor, which celebrated various stars connected to Liverpool. The second zone – the national themes area – was dedicated to the best of British horticulture.

The international theme area was the third section, which displayed a variety of horticulture from around the world. Twenty-nine countries participated in the event, of which 18 showcased their own outdoor gardens, presenting their own national horticultural traditions and culture. Most participating countries staged National Weeks, which proved highly popular with visitors.

The fourth section was the home and garden features, with many show homes alongside their gardens. In addition to the individual gardens, the exhibition also displayed a vast array of artwork. Since closing, the site has changed significantly. Part of the site was developed into residential housing and the remained was used as an entertainment and leisure venue for several years.

In 2009, it was announced that the site - known as the Festival Gardens - would undergo redevelopment, including the restoration of the Chinese and Japanese gardens, the lakes, pagodas, and the woodland sculpture trails. These restored features alongside various new elements were completed in 2012. 

After Europe and North America, Asia was the new destination for the Horticultural Expo this time.

In 1990, the Japanese city of Osaka hosted the first horticultural exhibition from April 1 to Sep. 30, on an area of 140 hectares with the participation of 83 countries. The exhibition witnessed a record number of visitors, nearly 23 million people, twenty years after Osaka hosted the 1970 World Expo. Osaka City and the Japanese Government shared the objective of holding an international exhibition as part of a wider strategy to promote environmental issues and to triple the amount of green space in Japan.

The selected theme - "The Harmonious Coexistence of Nature and Mankind" - reflected this objective and looked towards creating a more humanistic world for the 21st century. The exhibition attracted more than 3,300,000 visitors. Starting with leveling and draining, it took a total of six years to develop the site, with organizers aiming at designing a "Garden of Eden". This design was a triangular "goose-foot" site.

In 1993, the exhibition returned to Germany, this time in the city of Stuttgart, where it was held from April 23 to Oct. 17, on an area of 64 hectares with the participation of 40 countries. The Expo attracted 7,300,00 visitors. The Expo site was located close to the northeast of the city center, and its development was a core part of the "Green-U" project to connect several of Stuttgart's existing parks in a continuous belt. As the site encompassed existing parks with differing terrain and characteristics, visitors could appreciate a great deal of variation between the many gardens. Among the highlights were a sea of tulips spilling out of a shipping container in the Netherlands' Garden, an Ancient Egypt-inspired garden with palm trees, India's geometrical garden, and Ukraine's country house.

In 1999, China was the second Asian country to host the Horticultural Expo. From May 1 to Oct. 31, the Chinese city of Kunming organized a horticultural exhibition on a huge area of 218 hectares with the participation of 70 countries, and the exhibition received more than 9,400,000 visitors Under the theme "Man and Nature – Marching into the 21st Century", the Expo was organized in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, an area renowned for its agriculture and its rapidly developing horticultural sector. Following a grand opening ceremony attended by the President of China Jiang Zemin and a live broadcast gala show dubbed "The Romance of Heaven on Earth," and as the first BIE-sanctioned International Exhibition to be organized in China, the Expo drew a great deal of national and international media attention. The Expo's theme was directly addressed in the Man and Nature Hall, which addressed environmental problems and displayed achievements and solutions necessary to ensure coordinated development. Beyond the gardens and plant exhibits, the organizers promoted the development of the theme by holding a series of international conferences and academic round-table meetings, focusing on technological progress and the protection of the environment.

In the Netherlands again and for the fifth time, specifically in the city of Haarlemmermeer in northern Netherlands, the Horticultural Expo was held in 2002 from April 25 to Oct. 20 on an area of 140 hectares with the participation of 30 countries, where the exhibition received more than two million visitors. With the motto "Feel the Art of Nature", the Expo's organizers opted to address the enjoyment of nature alongside the importance of living in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly manner.

In line with the environmentally focused theme, the site was developed with the existing landscape in mind, integrating existing trees and plants, including a century-old plane tree.

In 2003, Germany hosted the Horticultural Expo for the fifth time in the city of Rostock in northern Germany from April 25 to Oct. 12, on an area of 100 hectares with the participation of 32 countries. The Expo attracted 2,600,000 visitors. The Expo was organized under the theme (Mankind – Nature – Water), highlighting the importance of humanity's relationship with the environment and Rostock's location at the mouth of the Warnow River on the Baltic Sea. Developed on a parcel of undeveloped land along the riverbank, the Expo was nicknamed "the Green Expo by the Sea". Expo organizers opted to incorporate as many natural elements as possible within the Expo site, making use of existing streams and designating protected areas of existing vegetation.

This time, the new destination for the Horticultural Expo was Thailand, where the city of Chiang Mai hosted the exhibition in 2006 from Nov. 1, 2006, to Jan. 31, 2007, on an area of 80 hectares with the participation of 32 countries.

The exhibition received more than 3,800,000 visitors and was hosted in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee and 80th birthday of King Bhumibol of Thailand, at the time the world's longest reigning monarch.

The theme "To Express the Love for Humanity" reflected the lasting love between nature and mankind. Thirty-two countries presented indoor and outdoor gardens, rare plants exhibitions and took part in cultural performances. Over 2.5 million trees of 2,200 species were planted for the event, as well as numerous tropical plants and flowers.

One of the main highlights of the Expo was the Gardens for the King, which featured 23 international and 22 corporate gardens. For the sixth time, the Horticultural Expo returns to the Netherlands, where in 2012 the city of Venlo hosted this event from April 5 to Oct. 7 on an area of 66 hectares, and the exhibition attracted more than two million visitors. Organized under the theme "Be part of the theatre of nature; get closer to the quality of life", the Expo was designed as an event to inspire rather than to instruct.

The Netherlands Horticultural Council aimed to make the visitor experience a sustainable positive memory. In 2016, Turkey was the country that hosted the Horticultural Expo in the city of Antalya from April 23 to Oct. 30. The exhibition was held on an area of 112 hectares with the participation of 54 countries, where it attracted more than 4,600,000 visitors. Under the theme "Flowers and children," the Expo aimed to address global environmental issues, to share experiences in horticulture and agriculture, and to increase quality of life through the creation of green spaces and new job opportunities.

With its motto "A Green Life for Future Generations", the Expo encompassed four subthemes: History, Biodiversity, Sustainability, and Green Cities. With over 26,000 trees, three million flowers and several hundred species of shrubs, cacti, geophytes and aquatic plants in the theme gardens, the site was a true festival of horticulture.

In 2019, the Horticultural Expo was organized in Beijing, China from April 29 to Oct. 7, 2019, on a very large area of 509 hectares, with record participation also reaching 110 countries, where the event attracted around 9,300,000 visitors. Organized under the theme "Live Green, Live Better", Expo 2019 Beijing was dedicated to people's common desire for a green lifestyle and to helping humankind adapt to, respect and integrate into nature.

The logo of Expo 2019, dubbed 'Blooming at the foot of the Great Wall', consists of six different colored petals surrounding a stylized image symbolizing stamens and the Great Wall of China. Once again in Amsterdam, the Netherlands hosted the Horticultural Expo in 2022 from April 14 to Oct. 9, on an area of 60 hectares with the participation of 32 countries, where around 680,000 people visited the exhibition throughout its stay. In Almere, Amsterdam, the Expo was conceived as a living laboratory in with creative, green solutions that make cities more fun, more liveable and more sustainable, with the theme "Growing Green Cities".

Next to the international exhibits, the Dutch horticulture sector together with national participants exhibited their green solutions, such as the spectacular 10,000 m2 greenhouse complex, beautiful gardens and innovative buildings with surprising designs made from sustainable materials.

In 2023, specifically on Oct. 2, Doha will be a major stage for hosting an inspiring edition of the Horticulture Exhibition until March 2024, making the Expo 2023 Doha the first international Horticulture Exhibition in the Middle East and North Africa. (QNA)