Millennium Seed Bank Project in the Northern Territory of Australia

Cymbopogon obtectus, a grass found in the Northern Territory of Australia

The collaboration with the Partner in the Northern Territory was formalised on 24 November 2004, for a 6-year period. The Partner is the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts (NRETA) of the Northern Territory Government. This partnership is one of seven Australian partnerships in the Millennium Seed Bank Project (MSBP).

RBG Kew and the Northern Territory Partner agreed to work together with the purpose to support plant conservation in the Northern Territory with complementing in situ plant conservation activities by establishing a program of increased seed collection for targeted species, and undertaking research to understand the germination and long-term storage requirements for seed of collected species. This purpose will be addressed through the delivery of the following three key Project outputs:

1.      The establishment of a verified and well-documented collection of seed of wild native species from the Northern Territory based at the Seed Bank at the Biodiversity Conservation building of NRETA in Alice Springs and, in parallel, at the Kew Seed Bank. The project aims to collect around 550 species new to the MSB in its six-year duration;

2.      The development of a research programme that will further our understanding of aspects of the seed biology of various Northern Territory plant species, and

3.      The creation of opportunities for staff training and development to strengthen the capacity of NT Government to carry out the Project goal.

Project Team

Selected CVs

Project Leader: van Slageren, Michiel

Seed Conservation Department

Keith Manger, Robin Probert, Michiel van Slageren, Janet Terry

Project Partners and Collaborators

Australia

NRETA Alice Springs

Northern Territory Herbarium – Alice Springs branch

Northern Territory Herbarium – Palmerston North branch

Funders

UK

Millennium Seed Bank Project

Annex Material

Annex 1: Access and Benefit Sharing Agreement between the Northern Territory and RBG Kew   (Word document)

Annex 2: Project synopsis of collaboration between the Northern Territory and RBG Kew    (Word document)