Millennium Seed Bank Project - Partnerships in Latin America

By September 2003 the MSBP International Team had developed collaborative project partnerships in 16 different countries. The project partnerships vary in their structure and scope but all aim to collect and conserve seeds from dryland plant species and to strengthen in-country capacity for seed banking. The drylands covered range from hyper-arid biomes to savanna and grassland ecosystems characterised by water stress at some time in the year. Many of the partner projects are progressively identifying priority species for collection such as endangered species, endemics and economically important species. Endangered populations are also given priority wherever possible in order to collect their germplasm before it is lost.

In addition to the seed collecting activities, all the MSBP partnerships include research, training and other capacity-building elements. Several projects also include activities relating to the sustainable use of plants and links to in situ conservation. In this way the partnerships are working hard to implement many aspects of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Specifically, the MSBP is contributing to the implementation of the CBD Work Programme on Dry and Sub-humid Lands and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.

MSB work in Mexico

MSB work in Chile