use of seed collections to improve community livelihoods ... · the countries of species origin and...

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Use of seed collections to improve community livelihoods The MGU – Useful Plants Project

Tiziana Ulian, Alex Hudson, Efisio Mattana

Diversity & Livelihoods, Natural Capital & Plant Health Department

Thailand Biodiversity BioBank ConferenceSeptember 12-14, 2018

Bangkok, Thailand

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• Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank (MSB) Partnership

• Grown from a proposal made to Kew by a philanthropist based in Spain (MGU)

• Started in June 2007 (two phases)

Background

The MGU – Useful Plants Project

The Millennium Seed Bank, West Sussex (U.K.)

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Purpose

To enhance the capacity of local communities in Latin America and Africa to conserve and use sustainably indigenous plants

❑ Improve food security

❑ Improve human health

❑ Improve livelihoods

❑ Contribute to climate change mitigation

Botswana, Kenya, Mali, South Africa and Mexico

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Main outputs

• Targeting and prioritizing

• Seed conservation

• Plant propagation and conservation in local communities

• Sustainable use and income generation

Botswana, Kenya, Mali, South Africa and Mexico

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Targeting and prioritizing

• Literature review

• Ethnobotanical surveys

• Community workshops

Herbarium specimen of Hoodia currorii subsp. lugardii

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Ethnobotanical survey in Tharaka, Kenya

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Community workshop in Nyamira, Kenya

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Some examples

Kigelia africana (Sausage Tree) Botswana & Kenya

Tylosema esculentum (Morama bean) Botswana

Adansonia digitata(Baobab) Botswana,

Kenya & Mali

Lippia graveolens(Mexican Oregano) Mexico

Schinziophyton rautenenii (Mongongo nut)

Botswana

Adenium swazicumSouth Africa

1,620 useful plants (taxa)

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1,620 useful plants (taxa)UPP Database• Categorisation using Economic Botany Data Standards

• Development of a section for plant uses in BRAHMS (v 7)

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Seed conservation

Field expedition for seed collecting in Mali

• Collecting

• Processing

• Testing

• Banking

ca. 1,200 seed collections

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Seed processing at IER in Sikasso, Mali

Seed conservation

• Collecting

• Processing

• Testing

• Banking

ca. 1,200 seed collections

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Seed conservation

• Collecting

• Processing

• Testing

• Banking

Seed viability and germination of 637 plant species

Seed testing at Kew’s MSB in the U.K.

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Seed banking at Kew’s MSB in the U.K.

Seed conservation

• Collecting

• Processing

• Testing

• Banking

Seed storage of 704 plant species in country with duplicates in Kew’s MSB

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Plant nursery at Lowveld National Botanical Garden in South Africa

Plant propagation 371 plant species propagated

Dioscorea strydomiana

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Plant nursery established in the local community in Mali

Plant propagation in local communities

• Improving propagation facilities

• Training people

371 plant species propagated

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Training workshop in the rural greenhouse in Mexico

Plant propagation in local communities

• Improving propagation facilities

• Training people

371 plant species propagated

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263 species (52,305 seedlings) planted in 25 rural communities and 36 schools

Plant conservation in local communities

• Establishment of community and school gardens

• Demonstration woodlots (Kenya)

• Enrichment of sacred forests (Mali)

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• Indigenous vs. exotic trees

• Plant survival and growth rate


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Sustainable use and income generation

• Seeds and seedlings of shrubs and trees

• Plant products

34 plant species promoted

Selling seedlings from plant nursery in Tharaka, Kenya

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Products of Tylosema esculentum (Morama bean) Botswana

Medicinal plant-based health products in the Dept. of Traditional Medicine (University of Bamako) in Mali

• Seeds and seedlings

• Plant products


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Research & Dissemination

Mattana, E., Flores, C., Lira, R., Mamatsharaga, A., Mogotsi, K. K., Muthoka, P., Ngwako, S., Omondi, W., Ondieki Nyamongo, D., Sanogo, A. K., Sanogo, S., Ulian,

T. (eds.) (2018). Wild Plants for a Sustainable Future: 110 multipurpose species. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In preparation

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Conclusions

• Indigenous useful plants selected and prioritized according to communities’ preferences;

• Long term ex situ conservation implemented through seed banking both in the countries of species origin and at MSB in the UK;

• Propagation and planting activities to support in situ conservation through community and school gardens (all counties); demonstration woodlots (Kenya); and sacred forests (Mali);

• Income generation in the communities supported through the propagation of indigenous plants and the production of plant products;

• Participative approach with local institutional partners and rural communities; and

• Complementary research on seed science, plant propagation and sustainable

Ulian, T., Sacande, M., Hudson, A., Mattana, E., 2017 - Conservation of indigenous plants to support community livelihoods: the MGU – Useful Plants Project,

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 60:4, 668-683, DOI: 10.1080/09640568.2016.1166101

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• The MGU - Useful Plants Project has been funded by MGU, a kind and generous philanthropist based in Spain;

• Matching funds have been provided by several sources to enhance project activities in country;

• This work has been possible thanks to our dedicated collaborators and local communities in Botswana, Kenya, Mali, Mexico and South Africa, who are very gratefully acknowledged; and

• Several Kew colleagues have provided valuable technical and scientific support.

Acknowledgements

use of seed collections to improve community livelihoods ... · the countries of species origin and...

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