Science & Conservation at Kew

As well as a World Heritage Site with 250 years of history, Kew is a world leading plant science and conservation organisation. Our scientific resources and expertise are focused on finding plant-based solutions to global challenges such as biodiversity loss, food and water security, poverty, disease and changing climate. The strategy at the heart of this work is Kew’s Breathing Planet Programme.

Kew's Breathing Planet Programme (pdf) | Support Kew - adopt a seed for £25

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Helping the planet breathe

Kew's Breathing Planet Programme consists of seven roads to a more resilient planet. Find out more about our work here.

Biodiversity Challenge
Search and rescue
Why we're helping to conserve what remains of the world's intact habitats.
Local plants for local people
Why it's important to save seeds for our future.
Running repairs
Wonders and marvels

The latest news and blogs

Conserving Darwin's Letters

by: Eleanor Hasler, Library, Art and Archives blog
17 May 2013

Discover more about the conservation work carried out on one of the most important, popular and fascinating collection in the Archives.

How to Create a “Slab-Planted” Bonsai

by: Richard Kernick, Bonsai blog
13 May 2013

Richard, Kew’s bonsai specialist, and renowned bonsai expert Nobuyuki Kajiwara look into the process of creating a “slab-planted” Japanese white pine bonsai.

Photo of European ash (Fraxinus excelsior)

New initiative from Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank to protect UK trees takes root

10 May 2013
With a host of new pests and diseases attacking the United Kingdom’s native treescape, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank is tackling the threat by establishing the country’s first national collection of tree seeds – the UK National Tree Seed Project.


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Kew News Alert

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Beyond the Gardens - Millennium Seed Bank Partnership

Discover more about the importance of plants to our lives and how the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is helping to save wild plants and habitats for our future. Over the last ten years we have successfully banked 10% of the world's plant diversity. Seeds from deserts, to mountains, of all different shapes and sizes!

Making a difference around the world

Global Map Screen shot

Explore Kew's interactive map and find out how our science and conservation work is making a huge difference in the UK and around the world.

Find out about the new discoveries Kew's science teams have made across plant science and mycology, how the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is driving vital global conservation work and how our innovative research into the use of plants is helping communities worldwide.

All life depends on plants - and not just those we value most. The health of the planet - and our future - depends on the immense wealth of different species of plants and fungi that grow in the Earth's many and varied habitats.

Interactive map - Explore Kew's work around the world

Why you need Kew

Why you need Kew

More than one in five of the world's plants are threatened with extinction. We all rely on plants for food, clean air and water, but they are more threatened than birds, and as threatened as mammals. We need to understand more about how plants adapt to environmental change, and how to use them in ways that are sustainable. Much of Kew’s work is focused on these challenges.

 

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