Use of collections for restoration,

re-introduction and livelihoods.

Several MSBP partners are already using the seeds they collect through the project for conservation and development purposes.

Seedquest NSW are restoring breeding grounds for the regent honeyeater in the Capertee Valley (Photo: Andrew Orme)

For example, in New South Wales (NSW) in Australia, the MSBP partnership 'Seedquest NSW' are collecting seed from the Capertee Valley.

The NSW seed bank collection has provided seed from 20 species for revegetation as part of the national Regent Honeyeater Recovery Program. The revegetation is using species of trees favoured as food by the bird.

Interrupted brome has been re-introduced to the wild from seeds held at the MSB (Photo: Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh)

In the UK a seed collection made in 1963 has been used to re-introduce the grass Interrupted Brome into the wild. This plant was last seen in the wild in 1971. In August 2004, 200,000 seeds were sown in a field in Oxfordshire where the plant successfully established and flowered.

In Burkina Faso, partners are using wild herbaceous species in restoration of degraded lands and improvement of fallows. CNSF have helped to identify suitable species, collected, conserved and supplied, tested germination in the laboratory and in the field, and planted out.

The seeds have been provided by CNSF to the farmers, free of charge. Some farmers have planted in lines to reduce run-off water in cultivated fields, and some have been scattered to improve degraded lands.

Farmers from Makueni district, Kenya

The Kenyan 'Seeds for Life Project' is working with local communities to carry out a pilot demonstration to rehabilitate degraded forest land in Makueni district. Using seed collected through the MSBP project, the National Museums of Kenya nursery has produced seedlings of indigenous trees and associated species, which will be planted out during the November 2006 rains. If successful, the demonstration will be repeated in Mbeere and West Pokot districts.