UK: 10 % of the World's Seeds Banked!
15.10.09
Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership is today celebrating a major landmark as Musa itinerans - the threatened Yunnan Banana from southwest China - becomes the 24,200th plant species to take up residence in the world's largest ex situ conservation project.
This remarkable project now has 10 per cent of the world's known flowering plants safely banked in the vault for future generations to preserve, study, re-plant and enjoy.
Director of Kew, Stephen Hopper, said: "In a time of increasing concern about loss of biodiversity and climate change, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank partnership provides a real message of hope and is a vital resource in an uncertain world."
The 10 per cent target was established in 2000 when the partnership was formed, but their ambitions for this life-saving project do not end there. The fresh challenge is to collect and bank 25 per cent of the world's plants by 2020.