Millennium Seed Bank Partnership

Team lead: Dr Elinor Breman

Kew’s global seed banking network, the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP), is the largest ex situ plant conservation programme in the world.

With an estimated 45% of plant species threatened with extinction (State of the World's Plants & Fungi report 2023), the seeds we save are conserved in seed banks as insurance against the risk of extinction in their native habitat, and to enable research and ecosystem restoration activities across the globe.

Working with our network of partners across more than 100 countries and overseas territories, we have successfully banked over 40,000 of the world's wild plant species at the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB). We focus on plants facing the threat of extinction and useful plants for the future.

Collections are preserved in partner seed banks around the world and duplicated at the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in West Sussex.

The collections and the vital knowledge associated with them enable innovation, adaptation and resilience in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and habitat restoration.

Three people kneel in a green grassy field collecting orchid seeds until a cloud filled sky — Anush, Aisyah and Leigh Anne collecting orchid seeds

Two people smile as they sort brown paper bags on a table. There are two other people on the left hand side, one in the foreground and one in the background — Nattanit Yiamthaisong and Jan Sala organising seed collections, Sebastian Kettley © RBG Kew

Three scientists work around seeds in a lab — Some of the first participants of the MSBP Trainer Certification Scheme workshops practice the teaching of laboratory skills within the Millennium Seed Bank © RBG Kew

A woman sitting at a table sorting through seeds — Evenings were spent sorting through our seed collections from the day, Anna Pajdo © RBG Kew

Group photo of the team from Kew and their partners in the Dominican Republic — Project team at JBN, Santo Domingo. From left to right: Ramón Elías Castillo (FP), Francisco Jiménez (JBN), Silvia Bacci (Kew), Michael Way (Kew), Diana C. Acosta-Rojas (Kew), Andrés Ferrer (FMP), Teodoro Clase (JBN) & Wilkin Encarnación (JBN). © JBN

A group of individuals stand in a forest area. They're holding clipboards and discussing seed conservation techniques — Millennium Seed Bank training programme activities taking place in Ghana © RBG Kew

Global impact of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership

Together, the work of the MSBP contributes to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework 2030 targets.

Target 2: Restore 30% of all Degraded Ecosystems

The Weston Global Tree Seed Bank: Unlocked programme is working on developing scientific best practice for restoration in Madagascar, Thailand, Indonesia and Ghana.

Target 4: Halt species extinction, protect genetic diversity, and manage human-wildlife conflicts

Across the MSBP more than 60,000 species are currently conserved ex situ in seed banks. Through the UK programme 85% of UK threatened species have been secured at the MSB, while projects under the Weston Global Tree Seed Bank Programme are working to conserve some of the world's rarest, most endangered and useful trees across 41 countries and territories. The current phase is working across 16 countries and is focussing on utilising the collections made for restoration and research, and scaling up native seed supply to enhance conservation impact.

Target 8: Minimise the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and build resilience

The collections stored across the MSBP provide a resource to enable research and action towards nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches. These includes projects studying the effects of the future climatic conditions on the germination of key UK tree species.

Target 20: Strengthen capacity-building, technology transfer and scientific and technical co-operation for biodiversity

A training programme is fundamentally embedded across all projects within the MSBP, providing training to partners through courses, technical attachments and resources as well as a certified trainer scheme to strengthen regional knowledge. In addition, the published MSBP Seed Conservation Standards provide guidelines for ensuring collections are of the highest possible quality and maintain their longevity for as long as possible.

Target 21: Ensure that knowledge is available and accessible to guide biodiversity action

The Seed Portal for Online Data (SeedPOD) project is an exciting new open access digital resource that aims to unlock detailed data on seed collections from wild plant populations and help facilitate their transformation back into thriving plant communities.