Empowering global seed conservation
The mission of the Seed Conservation Specialist Group is to promote seed conservation by providing a network for knowledge-sharing in different ecosystems around the world, and aiding in prioritization, capacity building, and development of best practices.
We have > 100 members, from > 25 countries on 6 continents, including seed bank managers, academic researchers, conservation practitioners, national and international coordinators, and other specialists from around the world.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) serves as our host organization and provides Secretariat support through the Global Seed Conservation Challenge.
The Seed Conservation Specialist Group was proposed at the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress and established in 2017 by Marian Chau and Uromi Goodale, supported by BGCI and a network of dedicated experts as founding members.
2019 SSC Leader’s Meeting in Abu Dhabi
SSC Plant Conservation Committee and leaders in Abu Dhabi
We work with the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) to achieve “a just world that values and conserves nature through positive action to reduce the loss of diversity of life on earth.”
At the 2019 SSC Leader’s Meeting in Abu Dhabi, Uromi and Marian joined over 300 other SSC chairs, committees, and staff to learn, plan, and connect with other leaders.
The Abu Dhabi Call for Global Species Conservation Action was our Leaders’ Declaration, calling for urgent action to prevent human-driven extinctions by 2030 and bring about widespread species recovery by 2050. Decisions are being made in 2020-2021 that will have long lasting impacts on global conservation success, and SSC is taking a strong stance that species conservation must be prioritized.
Marian and Uromi also joined over 30 other plant-focused leaders, including the Plant Conservation Committee, Specialist Group Chairs, and Red List Authority Coordinators to work towards greater collaboration. We aim to make progress on areas such as Red List assessment, ex situ and in situ plant conservation, sustainable use, policy issues, climate change, habitat loss, and plant blindness.
We are extremely grateful to the following organizations that have provided us with funding support for SCSG activities:
Guangxi University
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
United States Forest Service
Seed photographs, listed from top to bottom: Erythrina sandwicensis (wiliwili, Hawai‘i), by Marian Chau; many species of seeds used in jewelry from around the world, by Uromi Goodale