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
Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership – Chile
Seed banks provide an insurance policy against the loss of plants in the wild and provide options for their future use. Seed banking is vital as part of our conservation efforts in Chile where several plant species found nowhere else are on the brink of extinction.
Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership – Botswana
Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership is working in Botswana to help safeguard wild plant species. Climate change and human activities are contributing factors that are threatening plant life. By sharing knowledge, developing local facilities and increasing conservation skills we can help reach our goal of saving Botswana’s wild plants.
Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership - Burkina Faso
Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership is working in Burkina Faso to help safeguard wild plant species. Combined efforts will make direct contributions to national and global conservation programmes, the results of which include helping to maintain the wellbeing of local populations.
Support the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership and Kew's global conservation work
Help Kew save the world’s plant life and habitats at risk of extinction and support our work helping to combat climate change by making your donation today.
Working in partnership
We rely on plants to feed, house and clothe us, but have long been using the Earth’s resources at an unsustainable rate. Kew’s mission is to inspire and deliver science-based plant conservation worldwide. To meet this aim, we work with a network of partners and collaborators around the world.
Why Kew saves plants
All life on Earth depends on plants. They are the basis of ecosystems in which all animals, including humans, live, survive and grow. They also provide vital ecosystem services, such as producing the oxygen we breathe, removing carbon dioxide from the air and purifying water.
How Kew saves plants
The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation is the first target-driven strategy developed under the Convention for Biological Diversity. Kew has placed it at the heart of its plant conservation aims.
Prioritising plant species for conservation
The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is the world’s most ambitious plant conservation initiative. By 2020, it aims to have seeds from 25% of Earth’s seed-bearing flora saved for posterity. Doing so acts as an insurance policy.
