Launch of global seed platform to tackle native seed bottleneck holding back nature restoration

On October 13, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) introduced SeedPOD, an open-access platform aimed at addressing the global challenge of native seed availability for ecological restoration. The platform consolidates information about seed collections and the knowledge required to grow them, making it easier for restoration practitioners, researchers, land managers, and communities to discover suitable native seeds.

Efforts to restore degraded ecosystems and build climate resilience face a critical bottleneck in securing the right seed from the right place, along with necessary germination information. Recent research from Kew's Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) has revealed that limited access to native seeds is a persistent issue in restoration efforts. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has set a target for at least 30% of degraded ecosystems to be restored by 2030, highlighting the urgency of this issue.

Seed banks worldwide preserve vast collections of genetically diverse wild seeds, with Kew's MSB alone holding over 2.5 billion seeds from more than 40,000 plant species. However, locating the right seed often requires searching multiple institutions, scientific literature, and disconnected databases, a task complicated by the lack of funding and technical infrastructure among smaller seed banks and custodians.

SeedPOD, developed by Kew's scientists, aggregates this information, enabling restoration practitioners to find seeds that meet their specific needs and understand how to successfully propagate them. Successful restoration depends on more than just finding the right species; it also requires understanding the genetic diversity and environmental conditions that can influence seed germination and establishment.

Kew scientists emphasize the importance of population-level differences, including local climate, site conditions, and genetic variation, when sourcing seeds for restoration. SeedPOD allows seed custodians to make their collections discoverable in one central location, facilitating access to their resources and expertise. This is particularly beneficial for smaller seed banks and custodians who may lack the resources or technical infrastructure to make their collections easily accessible online.

Cacilda Manhiça, national coordinator of the Wild Seeds Program at Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM), highlights the platform's value, stating that it enables IIAM's seed collections to be shared beyond Mozambique, connecting with similar efforts worldwide. SeedPOD provides a free platform for making collections discoverable, without requiring the development of digital infrastructure.

The platform is multilingual, designed for low-bandwidth environments, and connects with other biodiversity resources, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing within the native seed community.