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
Working together for a sustainable snowdrop trade
15 Feb 2010
Kew is working in partnership to survey populations of snowdrops in Georgia. The project aims to survey cultivated and wild populations and make recommendations to establish long term sustainable trade.
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Kew is helping to restore plant life and native habitats on remote islands in the Indian Ocean
25 Jan 2010
A Kew scientist is spending two weeks on a ship to explore the status of plant life on islands of the Chagos Archipelago and help restore native habitats. Some areas have not been visited by botanists for more than 30 years.
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Plant story - collecting the seed of intrepid little giant
01 Jan 2010
Conservationists from Kew's Millennium Seed Bank have collected the seed of intrepid little giant, a truly remarkable plant.
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Plant story - conserving grassland paper daisy in Tasmania
01 Jan 2010
The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership has conserved the endangered Australian grassland paper daisy (Leucochrysum albicans).
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Plant story - the endemic and rare Australian plant Acacia chapmanii has been collected and saved
01 Jan 2010
The Threatened Flora Seed Centre collected seed from Acacia chapmanii in December 2000 from the Drummond Nature Reserve, when the population was considered to be at risk.
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Plant story - Polhillia obsoleta, an endangered shrub from South Africa
01 Jan 2010
With the common name Teesuikerkaroo bos, Polhillia obsoleta is an endangered shrub from the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
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Plant story - "Devils claw" found and collected from Botswana
01 Jan 2010
Millennium Seed Bank Partnership fieldwork in the Okavango Delta in December 2005 located five IUCN Red List Index plant species, one of these being the very useful "Devils claw" (Harpagophytum zeyheri).
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Plant story - a very useful plant, Osyris lanceolata, is at risk of extinction due to overexploitation
01 Jan 2010
The commercial demand of Osyris products has recently led to an increased rate of exploitation, to an extent that its existence in its natural habitat is seriously threatened. Thanks to the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, this plant species is now safeguarded for our future.
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Plant story - finding Lobelia valida
01 Jan 2010
Find out how the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership team found Lobelia valida under a washing line!
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Plant story - Roridula dentata, endemic to South Africa
01 Jan 2010
A tentacle leafed shrub, endemic to the Cape Province of South Africa.
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