The Weston Global Tree Seed Bank Programme

Funded over a series of phases, the programme started in 2014, with the establishment of the Weston Global Tree Seed Bank based at the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB), where the seeds of around 11,000 tree and shrub species were already conserved. 

From 2015, the MSB worked with partner organisations in 41 countries across the world with the aim of conserving over 3,000 of the rarest, most threatened and useful trees. In addition, research carried out at Kew and by our partners started to fill vital gaps in our knowledge of science underpinning effective tree conservation. 

The third phase (2019-2023) included five new partnerships and complementing our seed collecting activities, we expanded our programme of research at our partner organisations as well as here at Kew. The programme also had a substantial training and capacity building element, working to strengthen partner organisations’ long-term capacity to carry out seed conservation work. This included continuation of the MSB’s flagship Seed Conservation Techniques course and the provision of various smaller scale and online training sessions, accessible to a wider conservation community.

At the start of 2024, we started a new exciting phase of the programme, called the Weston Global Tree Seed Bank: Unlocked. Through this phase we are moving from collecting seeds for conservation and research, into a position where we are utilising the collections we have made, for restoration, and where we can scale up native seed supply to enhance our conservation impact.  

This is becoming increasingly important as funding for restoration snowballs – we want to ensure best practise and enable the use of native endemic species for restoration projects. We are also aiming to overcome other barriers to successful restoration such as lack of knowledge about changing phenology of some species due to climate change, propagation and stress tolerance traits. We are working with local communities to maximise the impact of our work and ensure its sustainability beyond the programme lifetime.

Objectives

The programme’s ambitious goals, for 2024-2026:

• Improved capacity and seed conservation outcomes at partner organisations applying recognised MSBP standards
• To further develop understanding of desiccation and low temperature stress tolerance of tree seeds and pollen, to enhance the cryopreservation and post-storage recovery of tree species for conservation and reforestation
• To improve forest restoration outcomes by developing genetic knowledge to guide the sourcing and use of seeds in large scale forest restoration
• To improve global forest restoration outcomes through extending the supply of native seeds and improving the knowledge base informing their collection and use.
• To develop capacity, knowledge and resources to support the conservation and restoration of Indonesia’s megadiverse forests
• To improve the capacity and capability of practitioners within the Asia-Pacific region to enhance the conservation outcomes of woody species
• To enhance the conservation and usability of the South Caucasus woody species seed collection.
• To further develop capacity for the conservation and use of native tree seed in Ghana, Guinea and Sierra Leone
• To further develop capacity for the conservation and restoration of Madagascar’s globally important biodiverse forests
• To restore the natural capital of Mexican forests by mainstreaming the conservation and use of tree diversity and its ecosystem services in reforestation activities
• To recover the threatened Magnolia forests of the Dominican Republic through the conservation and research of the Magnolia species and the conservation of the seeds of the other species that grow in their habitats