European Native Seed Conservation Network (ENSCONET) Consortium

The ENSCONET Consortium maintains the momentum for native seed conservation in Europe which was generated during the FP6 funded ENSCONET project. It is a network of European native seed banks with an interest in the conservation and seed banking of Europe’s native flora.

Consortium members gather field data during a joint seed collecting trip in Slovakia. Photographer Jaromir Kucera

The European Native Seed Conservation Network (ENSCONET) began as an EU project which ran from 2004 to 2009. It is now a Consortium of 31 institutes, European seed banks, botanical gardens and other institutes, interested in the conservation and seed banking of Europe’s native flora, from currently 18 European countries who wish to continue their successful joint European seed conservation activities and maintain the momentum for seed conservation generated by the ENSCONET project. The ENSCONET Consortium is coordinated from Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank.

The ENSCONET Consortium maintains ENSCOBASE (the European Native Seed Banks' database) and the ENSCONET website. It also provides a platform for discussion and exchange of experience between members. The Consortium activities are open to additional banks from other European countries and elsewhere. It aims to implement agreed standards in partner seed banks and to encourage banks outside the Consortium to use them. Seed material is being duplicated between the partner seed banks, and information about seed conservation in Europe is disseminated and policy makers informed about seed conservation activities at local, national and international level.

Separately funded projects aiming to further European seed conservation are emerging from the ENSCONET Consortium. During summer 2011, two ENSCONET Consortium joint seed collecting missions took place, one in central Slovakia and the other in northern Spain. These two trips allowed exchange of experience between the participants as well as collecting considerable numbers of additional seed accessions for long term conservation storage.