Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership – Continental Europe

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership seeks to safeguard the world’s wild plant species. To optimise conservation efforts, networks and collaborations have been established and Kew is working hard to maintain conservation efforts closer to home as well as worldwide.

Sempervivum marmoreum, a species endemic to Bulgaria, on Konyavska Mountain (Image: Yulia Bosseva)

I am proud that Georgia is a partner country of the Millennium Seed Bank partnership. The protection of plants is an important activity in any part of the world, but especially in countries like Georgia with its rich biodiversity. Participation in the Millennium Seed Bank partnership ensures the conservation of rare and vulnerable plants of Georgia.

Zaal Gamtsemlidze, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Parliament of Georgia

Plant life in Continental Europe is under threat

The European Native Seed Conservation Network (ENSCONET) Consortium is an informal collaboration of 30 partners from 18 European countries. It formed to continue and spread the momentum for the conservation of Europe's native flora generated during the EU-funded European Native Seed Conservation Network project. Kew’s MSBP co-ordinated ENSCONET which consisted of 24 partners from 17 European countriesplus 7 other associated institutes. Kew provides the secretariat for the ENSCONET Consortium.

Bilateral collaboration agreements also exist for these ENSCONET Consortium members:

Budapest Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Budapest, Hungary
Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze Botaniche, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy

In addition, bilateral collaboration agreements are in place with:

L’Ente di Gestione dei Parchi e delle Riserve Naturali Cuneesi, Piedmont, Italy
The Institute of Botany of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Kew’s MSBP is also part of the management team for the UK’s contribution to the EU-funded COST Action 871 on the cryo-preservation of crop species in Europe, and is part of the British Council Alliance agreement for Anglo-French-German research into seed quality. It has many other collaborative research contacts with European institutions.