Threatened Biodiversity Hotspots programme

Department

Conservation Science

Programme leaders

Elinor Breman
Naomi Carvey
Colin Clubbe
Aisyah Faruk
Kate Hardwick
Timothy Pearce
 

With two in five plants estimated to be threatened with extinction, the conservation of wild plant species is one of the most urgent and important environmental challenges of the 21st Century. 

The Threatened Biodiversity Hotspots Programme builds on our Millennium Seed Bank Partnership to undertake a targeted programme of work to support and develop partner seed banks to safeguard rare and threatened species, particularly those which are endemic. The programme will focus on extremely biodiverse regions in Indonesia, Thailand, Mozambique, South Africa and the Caucasus, each of which faces different challenges and has differing levels of existing conservation capacity. By working closely with in-country partner organisations, we will ensure that each of the five regions has a highly focussed seed conservation facility, working to international standards which is able to support a variety of plant conservation and research initiatives nationally. This will involve the delivery of training as well as supporting the upgrade of essential seed banking infrastructure where necessary. 

These countries will be major contributors to the global collection base of the MSBP. By the end of the programme, overarching national seed programmes will be in place, building long-term in-country capacity for plant conservation. 

Arcadia - a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.