Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank celebrates 25 years and looks to accelerate its global mission

To mark the 25^th anniversary of the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB), Kew has today released a new podcast series Unearthed: The need for seeds with Ambassador for Wakehurst Cate Blanchett looking at the past, present, and future of the world’s most significant wild plant seed bank. 
 
In a series of events over the coming days, scientists and supporters of the seed bank will be coming together to highlight the role the MSB and its partnerships play in addressing the climate and biodiversity crises and to call for £30 million to help fund the future of the Millennium Seed Bank’s work to prevent plant extinction, restore habitats and find nature-based solutions to climate change. 
 
The MSB, located at Kew’s wild botanic garden in Wakehurst, Sussex, was opened in 2000 by His Majesty the King (then the Prince of Wales). In the last 25 years, nearly 2.5 billion seeds from over 40,000 species have been carefully cleaned, dried and stored in walk-in freezers at minus 20 degrees. This has been carried out by experts who have developed the skills not only to store the seeds to a high standard but also to wake them up again, using often bespoke protocols for seed germination. The seeds have been collected through a huge collaborative effort involving 279 partners from 100 countries. These partnerships have made the MSB what it is today – the centre point for a global conservation initiative and a dynamic hub for research, restoration and collaboration.  
 
The seed bank was set up to combat the effects of biodiversity loss and climate change and ensure the world’s plants were safeguarded for use by future generations. With Kew scientists recently estimating that 45% of all flowering plants are at risk of extinction, and the planet facing tougher challenges as each decade passes, its purpose has become increasingly important for people and planet. As Sir David Attenborough previously said of the MSB, it is ‘perhaps the most significant conservation initiative ever.’ 
 
Professor Alexandre Antonelli, Executive Director of Science at RBG Kew says: ‘The Millennium Seed Bank has a huge role to play in saving our planet. Over the past 25 years, the MSB partnership has created one of the world’s greatest biological safety nets – a vast and invaluable collection of wild plant seeds. This extraordinary global collaboration has laid the foundation for cutting-edge research, innovative conservation, and the sustainable use of plants across the planet. But this is only the beginning. 
 
‘As we look ahead, the next 25 years will be defined by how we rise to the urgent challenges of biodiversity loss, climate change, and food insecurity. Together, we aim to unlock the full potential of seed collections. From future-proofing restoration and agriculture, to preserving the world’s most exceptional and threatened plant species, to decoding the genetic foundations of climate resilience and adaptation, our work will be ambitious, innovative and driven by the needs of both people and planet. We are proud of what has been achieved, but even more inspired by what lies ahead.’ 
 
Cate Blanchett: ‘Seeds may be tiny, but they are of monumental importance to us all’ 

Kew’s ambassador for Wakehurst, Blanchett, is a key supporter of the MSB and has joined forces with Kew in this anniversary year to share the importance of seeds in our efforts to protect nature around the world for future generations and the benefit of all life on Earth. Released today with a special guest episode, the series takes listeners on a unique journey with Cate as she joins seed collectors in the field, helps to bank seeds, speaks to MSB experts and global partners and learns how seeds are being sent to space. 
 
Cate Blanchett says: ‘Recording the podcast was an absolute joy. It was also revelatory. I witnessed the invaluable science that is undertaken around the clock by the dedicated team at Wakehurst and their partners across the world. The real and ever-growing threats to our precious planet must be addressed and the work of the Millennium Seed Bank is a linchpin for our collective “Thrival”. Seeds may be tiny, but they are of monumental importance to us all.’ 

A global effort: More than simply banking seeds

The MSB goes beyond collecting and storing seeds for the future. Its collections are actively being used by researchers and conservationists worldwide now to restore habitats and revive degraded ecosystems; contribute new traits and diversity to crop breeding and research; conduct cutting-edge research on climate adaptation, cryopreservation, and seed longevity; and train the next generation of seed experts.  
 
Partnership and collaboration have been integral to the MSB’s success – over 25 years MSB staff and partner institutes have shared their knowledge and expertise in seed collection, seed banking, germination, research and restoration to enable a truly global sustainable partnership. Seeds are banked in their country of origin as well as being sent to the MSB for storage, resulting in the best possible outcome for conservation and vital safeguards for the future. 
 
The MSB and its partners are involved in a number of restoration projects globally. Since 2010, the seed bank has contributed to over 100 restoration projects in the UK, helping to use seeds and expertise to restore habitats degraded by climate change and land-use change. Overseas, the MSB actively is supporting seed-based restoration research and outcomes in Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexico and Thailand. The MSB has a team of 11 Kew staff on the ground in Madagascar, working with the national parks to help find ways of restoring native trees to forest areas that have been destroyed by fire, which poses a severe threat to all the unique forest wildlife, including endemic lemurs, birds and reptiles.   
 
In the last five years, Kew experts have also provided training on best practice for seed conservation to over 3,000 professionals from 70 different countries, both at the MSB and at partner institutions in countries including Ghana, Greece, Indonesia, Madagascar (where Kew has a permanent overseas base) and Mozambique. 
 
Dr James Amponsah, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana: ‘Partnering with the Millennium Seed Bank has been an instrumental step forward in enhancing our capacity to train the next generation of scientists in Ghana. It has helped us acquire new skills and knowledge that we can bring back to our collaborators back home, making our work more impactful and adaptable to the conditions and threats Ghana’s native flora faces from mining and deforestation. Biodiversity faces these and other threats everywhere you look and the Millennium Seed Partnership is empowering us to tackle this crisis, not just in Ghana but across the whole of Africa.’ 
 
Dan Duval, Senior Seed Collection Officer at the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre: ‘Our partnership with the Millennium Seed Bank has been an incredibly important one, without which our programme at the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre would have likely never existed. Over the years, colleagues at the Millennium Seed Bank have provided us with invaluable support, expertise and knowledge sharing that has helped us protect Australia’s flora. It’s reassuring to know that should anything ever happen to our collections here in country, we can rely on the insurance collection stored safely in the Millennium Seed Bank.’ 

 
Seeds Future Fund to accelerate the Millennium Seed Bank’s impact 

In this anniversary year, Kew is launching a £30m Seeds Future Fund to raise funds to scale up the MSB’s critical scientific mission to prevent plant extinction, restore species-rich habitats and provide nature-based solutions. This responds to Kew’s Manifesto for Change, with its commitment to urgently address the climate and biodiversity crises.  
 
The Fund has already received a generous donation of £1 million from John Eccles, Chairman of Kew’s Board of Trustees from 1983-1991.  This donation enables an expanded worldwide MSB Partnership Training Programme. Kew’s leadership role among the hundred strong partnership members ensures the transfer of the knowledge and skills needed for seed collection, conservation and research; making a vital contribution to the demand for training as country after country adapts to climate change. 
 
By donating, supporters will help accelerate Kew’s pioneering seed science and conservation work by enabling vital research, innovation, training and partnerships that safeguard plant diversity and help restore ecosystems worldwide.  
 
Members of the public can make a gift to the Seeds Future Fund, and its current public appeal by visiting www.kew.org/seeds.  
 
Charlotte Lusty, Head of Seed Collections at the MSB says: ‘Together with water, plants are our most valuable natural resources for supporting our life on Earth. That is a grand statement for supporting the investment and scale of our long-term work. However, there are hundreds of local disasters occurring around the world that are resulting in the loss of species and the ecological power and resilience of our natural and agricultural ecosystems. A better supply of native and useful seeds would radically change the way we recover from these never-ending crises. Our work at the Millennium Seed Bank is a precious symbol of what international collaboration and bold ideas can do. There is no time to waste now in putting the seeds we save to good use.’ 
 

What can people do to join in the anniversary celebrations? 

• For visitors to the UK, you can visit the MSB at Wakehurst throughout the year. See the scientists at work and explore the new interactive atrium exhibition where children can learn to become a seed banking scientist.
• Learn more about the MSB and its work by listening to the new podcast series with Cate Blanchett, Unearthed: The need for seeds. To listen, please visit any podcast platform and search for the title.
• Donate to the Millennium Seed Bank’s appeal right now by visiting www.kew.org/seeds or contact development@kew.org to be a part of the £30m Seeds Future Fund to accelerate the MSB’s impact. 

Thank you to all who have supported the Millennium Seed Bank and its partnerships over the past 25 years, and those who continue to do so.  
 
ENDS