World's largest wild plant seed bank celebrates 20 years in West Sussex
A 24-hour social media party is being held to mark the day.
The world's largest wild plant seed bank, based in West Sussex, is celebrating its 20th anniversary today (19 November).
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's Millennium Seed Bank (MSB), opened in November 2000 and can be found at Wakehurst.
It is said to act as an 'insurance policy' for rare, threatened and useful plants, so they can be protected for future generations.
The anniversary is being marked with a 24-hour social media party across Twitter and Facebook, where partners from across the world will be sharing content related to their seed banking journey and partnership with the MSB at timed intervals related to their time zone.
Two decades on from its opening, the MSB represents the largest wild seed conservation project in the world, with 2.4 billion seeds from 39,681 species, sourced from 190 countries and territories.
When counting the collections held across the global partnership, the MSB and its partners have helped protect 46,664 species - 16 per cent of the world's seed-bearing plants.
It has been described as the "Noah's ark" for plants.
The MSB and its global partners are said to be vital in keeping vulnerable and economically important plants safe, during a time when two-fifths of the world's plants are at risk of disappearing.
Whilst the Norwegian seed bank Svalbard stores seeds of the world's crops, the MSB banks wild plants, including some of the relatives of major food crops.
Richard Deverell, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew said:
"As we face the toughest decade ever for our planet with species disappearing at an alarming rate, the work of the Millennium Seed Bank couldn't be more important - even more so than we could have anticipated 20 years ago.
"The species safeguarded by the partnership since 2000 offer possibility and hope for future generations.
"They could help provide the next major food crop, develop a new cancer drug, or restore degraded habitats destroyed by climate change and deforestation.
"This would not have been possible without the dedication of our partners around the world, who have worked with us in great harmony to seek out the planet's most precious plants, and to trust us with a collection for safekeeping here in the UK."
The glass building, which was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales, houses an underground seed vault that is floodproof, bomb-proof, radiation-proof and has the capacity to hold up to three quarters of the world's flora.
The MSB also represents a global network for biodiversity conservation, with more than 260 partnerships with institutions from 97 countries and territories across Africa, the Americas, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.
Partners range from universities and botanic gardens, to government institutions and more.
Since 2013, RBG Kew's MSB staff have helped with the development of seven new, international seed banks, where facilities vary from basic to state of the art.
These partnerships mean that, wherever possible, every species collected and banked in its native country is also duplicated at the MSB, so that every plant is safely stored in two different locations - the ultimate 'insurance policy'.
The seeds, collected from nine of the world's biogeographic regions and all 36 of its terrestrial biodiversity hotspots, are frozen in time, stored in air-tight glass containers stacked in huge -20°C freezers.
Dr Elinor Breman, senior scientist at RBG Kew's MSB said:
"The Millennium Seed Bank is a truly international project, which brings together thousands of scientists across the world who all share a common love for plants and an ambition to ensure their conservation for future generations."
Kew scientists have also delivered training programmes at the MSB and in countries across the world for more than 2,000 people from 61 different countries and territories.
Victoria Wilman, conservation coordinator at South African National Biodiversity Institute and partner of the MSB said:
"It is wonderful to be part of a worldwide conservation project and to be able to safeguard our species from total extinction.
"We have received so much support from the MSB including funds, training and guidance so that we can store our flora for the long term.
"It is a great feeling when you find a species that you have been searching for and can finally be sure that it is safely banked for the future."
The MSB is also said to have been "vital" in protecting UK native species and earlier this year celebrated banking 13 million seeds from more than 10,000 native UK trees and shrubs.
This collection, made by the UK National Tree Seed Project and funded by players of People's Postcode Lottery, offers future possibilities for both research and conservation of UK woodlands.