Seed bank

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Thailand is a country high in biodiversity, and has an estimated 20,000 species of seed plants. New species are being discovered by botanists on a regular basis. Climate change, however, is affecting the survival of species as well as the ecosystems they depend on. The fragmentation of forest habitats will make it impossible for many species to disperse into more suitable habitats as temperature increases. The seed bank developed by NBT, in collaboration with the Kew Botanical Garden of UK, will enable wild species and important genetic varieties of crops threatened with extinction to be preserved as seeds over the long term. Banked seeds are maintained under stable sub-freezing conditions while frequently being checked for viability. This “ex-situ” conservation (away from the natural habitat) is being carried out with the best world-class, standardized, technology, and will be an important hedge against extinction of our most valuable wild and economic species of plants