Status and future of seed conservation of threatened plants in the post‐2020 era

Societal Impact Statement Ambitious targets have been set to backup seeds of threatened plants by the global strategy for plant conservation (GSPC), but it is unclear in how far these targets have been met and how seed collection should be organized to meet future challenges. Here, we provide an overview of the status of 44 countries in achieving seed conservation targets. We show that progress varies strongly across countries, but in general, targets of the 2011–2020 GSCP have not been reached. By a regional example, we illustrate how seed collection could be organized to safeguard our threatened flora. Summary Seed banking of wild plants is a central pillar of conservation strategies for threatened plants. Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) called for at least 75% of threatened plant species to be conserved ex situ by 2020, but to what extent countries have achieved this target is unclear. Consequently, it is unknown how seed banking should be organized in future to safeguard plant diversity and support the increasing demand for seeds for habitat restoration. We conducted a comprehensive survey across 44 countries in Europe and western Asia and collected information on seed bank stocks of native taxa. We harmonized the taxonomic names across the collections and matched them against a database of national plant Red Lists to assign each taxon its IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) threat status in its country of origin. We analysed each country's achievement in terms of the conservation of its threatened flora and evaluated the quality of the collections in terms of genetic representativeness and seed quantity. We found that none of the studied countries had reached Target 8 of the GSPC by 2020. While a few countries had come close to it, on average only 21% of threatened taxa were conserved across countries. Our results demonstrate that the current seed conservation strategy has not met conservation demands. Using an example from Belgium, where considerable progress has been achieved by investing in a network of volunteer seed collectors, we show how future seed collection could be organized in collaborative community‐based approaches.

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Publication Details

Journal
Plants People Planet
Published
2026-03-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70177
Primary Topic
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Status and future of seed conservation of threatened plants in the post‐2020 era

Philippe Bardin, Kristina Bjureke, Marina Antić, Johan Gourvil et al.
Plants People Planet
Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
article

Status and future of seed conservation of threatened plants in the post‐2020 era

Philippe Bardin, Kristina Bjureke, Marina Antić, Johan Gourvil, Roland K. Eberwein, Adelaide Clemente, Luciano Di Martino, Francesca Carruggio, Gitana Štukėnienė, Dikla Lifshitz, K. Annamaa, Mari Miranto, Mar Pérez, Francesca Mantino, B. Gelvonauskis, Andreas Titze, Angelino Carta, Jože Bavcon, Elke Zippel, Fiona J. White, I. Janžekovič, Valeria Negri, Leonid Rasran, Peter Borgmann, Denise F. Dostatny, P. Nick, Silvia Strajeru, A.L. Soares, Catherine Gautier, Sarah Trinder, Lara Dixon, U. Lohwasser, Santiago Moreno Vázquez, Gergana Desheva, Caroline Favier, Christian Berg, Anna Rucińska, Maciej Niemczyk, Stéphane Rivière, Luigi Forte, Blanka Ravnjak, Marcin Beza, Marko Hyvärinen, Pedro Cortesão Casimiro, Vince Zsigmond, Jocelyne Cambecèdes, Sara Magrini, Sandrine Godefroid, Małgorzata Pałucka, Sandrine Loriot, Maïté Delmas, Marco Schmidt, Andrea Mondoni, G. Seznec, Nick Fenby, Ted Chapman, Carolina Sánchez Romero, Marco Porceddu, Lucia de la Calle de la Rosa, Manuela Sim‐Sim, Katerina Papanastasi, Sina Bohm, Lorenzo Raggi, Elena Zappa, Carlos Lobo, Inmaculada Ferrando‐Pardo, Andreas König, Maja Lazarević, Stéphane Buord, Udayangani Liu, Humberto Nóbrega, Ľubomí­r Mendel, Nora Stoeckl, Ludivine Lapébie, Charlotte Allender, Mauro Mariotti, Noémie Fort, BRAIS HERMOSILLA LORENZO, Nikos Krigas, Laetitia Hugot, Miguel Â. A. Pinheiro de Carvalho, Pawel Olejniczak, Mariacristina Villani, Sarmite Rancane, Mikel Etxeberria‐Okariz, Karl‐Georg Bernhardt, Ana Irene García‐del Bao, Sotirios Porevis, Thierry Helminger, Vincent Lipa, Sabine Zachago, Silvia Villegas, Denis Larpin, Valter Di Cecco, Agnese Gailite, Emilio Laguna, Andrej Šušek, Agustí Agut Escrig, Theo Van Hintum, Karim Benkhelifa, Anamaria Barata, Nils Van Rooijen, Carla Pinto‐Cruz, Gianluigi Bacchetta, Marine Millet, Katia Diadema, Catia F. Freitas, Simone Schneider, Axelle Roumier, Gian Petro Giusso del Galdo, Anabela D. F. Belo, Luisa Gouveia, Regis Crisnaire, Josep Borrell, Katarzyna Galej‐Ciwis, Andreas Ensslin, Iveta Cicova, Mariana P. Fernandes, Marina Belovarska, Zlatina Tsvetanova, Rosa Maria Garcia, Evi Matiatou, Antonia Cristaudo, Magdalena Vicens Fornés, Felix Schlatti, Peter Poschlod, Pablo Ferrer, Ioanna Papanikolaou, Oz Baranzani, Marie Duval, Bertille Asset
article en

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement Ambitious targets have been set to backup seeds of threatened plants by the global strategy for plant conservation (GSPC), but it is unclear in how far these targets have been met and how seed collection should be organized to meet future challenges. Here, we provide an overview of the status of 44 countries in achieving seed conservation targets. We show that progress varies strongly across countries, but in general, targets of the 2011–2020 GSCP have not been reached. By a regional example, we illustrate how seed collection could be organized to safeguard our threatened flora. Summary Seed banking of wild plants is a central pillar of conservation strategies for threatened plants. Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) called for at least 75% of threatened plant species to be conserved ex situ by 2020, but to what extent countries have achieved this target is unclear. Consequently, it is unknown how seed banking should be organized in future to safeguard plant diversity and support the increasing demand for seeds for habitat restoration. We conducted a comprehensive survey across 44 countries in Europe and western Asia and collected information on seed bank stocks of native taxa. We harmonized the taxonomic names across the collections and matched them against a database of national plant Red Lists to assign each taxon its IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) threat status in its country of origin. We analysed each country's achievement in terms of the conservation of its threatened flora and evaluated the quality of the collections in terms of genetic representativeness and seed quantity. We found that none of the studied countries had reached Target 8 of the GSPC by 2020. While a few countries had come close to it, on average only 21% of threatened taxa were conserved across countries. Our results demonstrate that the current seed conservation strategy has not met conservation demands. Using an example from Belgium, where considerable progress has been achieved by investing in a network of volunteer seed collectors, we show how future seed collection could be organized in collaborative community‐based approaches.

Plants People Planet
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (DE), Bank of Italy (IT), University of Pisa (IT), Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LV), Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava (RO), Landscape Institute (GB), Meise Botanic Garden (BE), Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (DE), University of Padua (IT), Université de Corse Pascal Paoli (FR), Università degli Studi della Tuscia (IT), University of Lisbon (PT), Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), University of Ljubljana (SI), University of Graz (AT), Philipps University of Marburg (DE), Osnabrück University (DE), Solvay (Belgium) (BE), University of Cagliari (IT), University of Banja Luka (BA), University of Oslo (NO), University of Évora (PT), Universitat de Girona (ES), University of Pavia (IT), University of Perugia (IT), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (GB), Australian National Botanic Gardens (AU), Interbalkan Medical Center (GR), Missouri Botanical Garden (US), Jardin Botanique de Genève (CH), Agricultural Research Organization (IL), University of Maribor (SI), University of Catania (IT), University of Warwick (GB), University of Belgrade (RS), Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin (DE), National Horticultural Research Institute (NG), Polish Botanical Society (PL), Hernia Center (US), Ayuntamiento de San Sebastián (ES), Institute of Ecology and Botany (HU), Sustainability Institute (ZA), Agencia Regional da Energia e Ambiente da Regiao Autonoma da Madeira (PT), Secretaria Regional do Ambiente e Recursos Naturais (PT), Polish Academy of Sciences Botanical Garden – Center for Biological Diversity Conservation in Powsin (PL), Centre of Estonian Rural Research and Knowledge (EE), Genetic Resources Center (JP), National Azulejo Museum (PT), Horticultural Research Institute (US), Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (FR), Kostrzyca Forest Gene Bank (PL), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (FR), Institute of Nature Conservation (PL), Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Centre Inria de l'Université de Lorraine (FR), Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK) (DE), Wildlife Information Liaison Development (IN), Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (ES), National Laboratory for Civil Engineering (PT), Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics (BG), Department of Education (ES), Forest Research Institute (BG), Latvian State Forest Research Institute "Silava" (LV), Portuguese School of Bank Management (PT), Federation of Greek Mariculture (GR), Finnish Museum of Natural History (FI), Real Jardín Botánico (ES), Instytut Ogrodnictwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (PL), Valstybinių Miškų Urėdija (LT), Nature Conservation Agency (LV), Central Botanical Garden (BY), Fondation Pour la Recherche Sur la Biodiversité (FR), French Community of Belgium (BE), National Agricultural and Food Centre (SK), Hochschule Osnabrück (DE), Musée national d'histoire naturelle Luxembourg (LU), University of Klagenfurt (AT), Conservatoire Botanique National Méditerranéen de Porquerolles (FR), University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT), Universidade da Madeira (PT), University of Regensburg (DE), Universidad de Málaga (ES), Université de Lorraine (FR), University of Latvia (LV), Wageningen University & Research (NL), Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
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Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
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