Conservation and climate change news
Plants have an essential role to play in mitigating the effects of climate change, because they take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Conversely, if forests are destroyed by burning, then carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere. Deforestation accounts for about one fifth of the world’s carbon emissions.
However, plants are threatened by environmental changes including climate change. Conserving plants is therefore critical to any sustainable solution to environmental change.
Kew's work in this area | Adopt a seed for £25 and help Kew protect plant life
Plant story - conserving Ixia mostertii, an endangered plant species
01 Jan 2010
Ixia mostertii, found in the Breede River Valley in South Africa. The area is better known for its fine wines, fruits and beautiful mountains.
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Plant story - a rare tree from Kenya, Aloe ballyi, has been saved by Millennium Seed Bank partners
01 Jan 2010
The seeds of a rare Aloe tree were collected in the Taita Hills of Kenya during a collaborative collecting mission involving the National Genebank of Kenya and the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership.
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Plant story - collecting Menodora linoides, a rare plant from Chile
01 Jan 2010
This attractive small shrub is known from only five locations in the hills of central Chile, and was in danger of extinction, before the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership got involved.
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Plant story - the elusive Erica greyi found after 111 years!
01 Jan 2010
In August 2008 the Cape Millennium Seed Bank team went to a farm in the Koue Bokkeveld region in South Africa, to collect seeds of the endangered Erica greyi.
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Plant story - Antarctica's plant life is saved from extinction
01 Jan 2010
All plant species found in Antarctica have been saved thanks to the efforts of the botanist, Dr Tim Rich. Tim's work has ensured that Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank now holds seed collections from all vascular plant flora found in the region, safe and sound in its underground vaults at Wakehurst.
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Plant story - conserving Protea odorata, an endangered plant species
01 Jan 2010
Efforts to find and conserve populations of Protea odorata date back to the early 1980's when four sites were identified.
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Plant story - Acanthus syriacus, a difficult species for seed collecting
01 Jan 2010
The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership has conserved the rare plant Acanthus syriacus. Farmers cut the plants back because of the hard and harmful spines that hurt them and their cattle. Collecting the seeds of Acanthus syriacus also presents a challenge.
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Plant story - saving Oldfieldia dactylophylla, a rare and highly endangered tree species from Malawi
01 Jan 2010
The excitement could not be concealed when the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership collection team came across three Oldfieldia dactylophylla trees loaded with fruits.
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Plant story - Erica margaritacea is rescued from extinction
01 Jan 2010
Erica margaritacea was once found on the sandy Cape Flats from the Cape Peninsula to Stellenbosch. Farming and urban development have reduced the natural range of this species to a small area (42 hectares) within the Kenilworth Race Course in Cape Town. It is therefore categorised as Critically Endangered.
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Plant story - helping to conserve Origanum syriacum
01 Jan 2010
The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership has conserved the endangered Origanum syriacum, the most economic and edible wild plant in Lebanon.
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