Wellcome Grant for Seed Bank

RBG Kew is delighted by the Wellcome Trust’s decision to award a grant of £9.2 million towards the Millennium Seed Bank project. This is one of the Millennium Commission’s national landmark projects, which was awarded a grant worth up to £30 million from the Millennium Commission. The project aims to store seed from 10% of the world’s wild seed-bearing species by 2010 and have a near complete representation of native British seed-bearing plants by the year 2000.

The announcement of the Wellcome Trust grant was made on 24 March 1997 and was followed in the evening by a special reception at St James’ Palace in the presence of HRH The Prince of Wales and attended by Sir Roger Gibbs (Chairman of the Wellcome Trust), Sir David Attenborough and representatives of many of our collaborating partners. Sir Roger said, "Throughout history, plants have been the most important source of medicines, with many modern treatments being derived from plants. This project would have greatly excited our founder Sir Henry Wellcome." He added, "By conserving plants from the world’s arid regions, thousands of endangered species will be preserved for research into novel medicines for the next millennium." The seed bank building will be named the Wellcome Trust Millennium Building and construction will begin later this year at Wakehurst Place.

Overseas seed collecting is already being stepped up. This year Michiel van Slageren will be visiting Yemen, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, South Africa and Burkina Faso while Michael Way will collect in Mexico. Collecting will continue to be carried out in partnership with botanical institutions in the host countries in line with the Convention on Biological Diversity. There is provision for assistance in all areas of seed conservation to help overseas collaborators achieve their conservation goals. UK collecting activities are also commencing. In May, Michael Way and the newly-appointed UK Coordinator, Stephen Alton, will begin training volunteer collectors from the Wildlife Trusts and the Botanical Society of the British Isles. The Seed Bank already holds more than 600 native species, out of an estimated total of 1,570 seed-bearing species. This year collectors aim to store at least one third of the remainder. The new seed collections will be stored in the expanded facilities in the existing Seed Bank until the new building is complete.

Although the Wellcome Trust grant provides a tremendous boost to the project, there is still the need to raise more funds, particularly for collaborating countries, and international conservation sources are being approached for support.

Left: Michiel van Slageren collecting Colophospermum mopane in a ‘Mopane’ woodland in northwest Namibia.

Contact: Alison Mitchell (0181-332 5919)

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