Funding Agency: Garfield Weston Foundation.
Host organisation: Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew
Partners: Nature Conservation Unit (Frederick University); Department of Forests and Agricultural Research Institute (Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment) and 8 more partners (from 6 countries).
Project's Main Objective: The Global Tree Seed Bank Project is a global initiative, which will secure the future of more than 2000 of the world’s rarest, most threatened and most useful trees. It is funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation. In Europe, the project will collect and conserve in seed banks at least 200 native European tree species.
As far as Cyprus is concerned, the main objective of the project is to collect seeds (2 accessions) of 40 native trees (and shrubs) in 3 years. The following phases/ work packages are included:
- WP1: Project management: A Project Committee (PC) will be formed, which will include three members representing the three organisations participating in the project from Cyprus, i.e. Frederick University (FU), Department of Forests (DF) and Agricultural Research Institute (ARI). The PC will:
i. Identify the locations and collection period of seeds.
ii. Provide information for the project reports (including progress and impact and any publications resulting from the Grant).
iii. Provide completed financial reports (detailing how the Grant has been used) for Cypriot partners.
- WP2: Collection of seeds: This will take place in the 3 years of the project and 2 accessions from each species will be collected. The collection will be done according to the “Seed Collecting Manual for Wild Species” of the European Native Seed Conservation Network (ENSCONET).
- WP3: Cleaning and packaging of seeds: The cleaning and packaging of the seeds will be done at ARI’s laboratories. The seeds will then be sent to Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (RBGK).
Project Code: GW-GTSBP-Europe-FU