Asia-Pacific Seed Preservation and Research Network (SPARK)

The Asia-Pacific region holds a considerable amount of plant diversity, with rates of species endemism >80% in some countries. Alongside this, the region is also known to have an increasingly disturbing levels of biodiversity loss, due to logging, clearing for agriculture or mining, introduced pest and disease and extreme weather events as a result of climate change.

Ex situ conservation such as seed banking provides a pragmatic solution in the face of biodiversity loss. However, many species found across the Asia-Pacific region are classed as "exceptional species", and thereby difficult to conserve using conventional seed banking methods. Many are understudied, making their conservation even more problematic due to the lack of effective protocols. With the rates of deforestation outstripping restoration and recovery, the need to put research into practice is more urgent now than ever.

The Asia-Pacific SPARK project aims to bring together seed conservation researchers and practitioners from across the region to tackle the most problematic species with a goal of enhancing its conservation outcomes. Currently the alliance is made up of 13 member institutions across six countries. The outputs of the project will include developing species profile sheets of iconic shared genera and technical information sheets for practitioner use, professional exchanges to enhance capability within the region, support dissemination of knowledge and a prioritisation framework for the region.