Objective 2 target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation 2011-2020 aims to secure 75% of threatened plants species in ex situ collections. The Botanic Garden Meise contributes to this target by investing in conservation relevant collections. In 2015, the garden reached its conservation goal to secure 50% of the 199 Euphorbia species assessed by IUCN as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered by at least one accession per taxon. This includes 16 of the 36 critically endangered species. By 2019 the garden aims to expand this collection to cover 75% of IUCN threatened Euphorbia species. IUCN assessments for Euphorbia are still largely incomplete and 544 Euphorbia taxa housed in Meise still await their assessment. As succulent Euphorbia species are for their largest part very restricted endemics, more species will certainly be added to the list of threatened plants in the future.
Currently the Euphorbia collection in the greenhouses of the Botanic Garden Meise houses a total 1342 accessions of 650 Euphorbia taxa. Recent additions
are largely obtained through a European network of botanical gardens, nurseries and organisations such as the International Euphorbia Society who aim to release the pressure from wild populations by distribution of cultivated plants.