Threatened Biodiversity Hotspots programme

Seed collecting and building in-country conservation capacity in five biodiverse hotspots in seven countries.

Large rock (Inselberg) in the distance with grassland and river in the foreground
Department

Enhanced Partnerships

Programme leaders

Elinor Breman
Naomi Carvey
Aisyah Faruk
Kate Hardwick
Jo Osborne
Timothy Pearce
Lee Oliver

With two in five plants estimated to be threatened with extinction, the conservation of wild plant species is one of the most urgent and important environmental challenges of the 21st Century. 

The Threatened Biodiversity Hotspots Programme builds on our Millennium Seed Bank Partnership to undertake a targeted programme of work to support and develop partner seed banks to safeguard rare and threatened species, particularly those which are endemic. The programme will focus on extremely biodiverse regions in Indonesia, Thailand, Mozambique, South Africa and the Caucasus, each of which faces different challenges and has differing levels of existing conservation capacity. By working closely with in-country partner organisations, we will ensure that each of the five regions has a highly focussed seed conservation facility, working to international standards which is able to support a variety of plant conservation and research initiatives nationally. This will involve the delivery of training as well as supporting the upgrade of essential seed banking infrastructure where necessary. 

These countries will be major contributors to the global collection base of the MSBP. By the end of the programme, overarching national seed programmes will be in place, building long-term in-country capacity for plant conservation. 

South Africa National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI)

Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW)

Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM), Maputo, Mozambique

Research Center for Plant Conservation and Botanic Gardens, part of the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI)

National Botanic Gardens of Georgia

Institute of Botany, Ilia University Georgia

Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia

Armenia Botanical Society NGO

Genetic Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences Azerbaijan

Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences Azerbaijan

Threatened Biodiversity Hotspots in Indonesia

Conservation on the megadiverse Indonesian archipelago. An ambitious programme of seed conservation, plant extinction assessments and research on the ecology, conservation and use of Indonesia’s native flora.
Indonesia

Threatened Biodiversity Hotspots in the Caucasus

Conserving important plant species in a region of high biodiversity and endemism.
Caucasus

Developing the national seed collection of South Africa

A collaborative programme between the South Africa National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, helping to ensure the long-term survival of South Africa’s plant diversity through ex-situ conservation
Seed collection South Africa

The National Seed Conservation Programme: Mozambique

Banking the seeds of Mozambique’s diverse flora to ensure long-term survival and to contribute to seed biology research, in situ species conservation and habitat restoration.
Mozambique seed conservation
Yellow arcadia logo

Arcadia - a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.