Last year in September our partner Terraformation launched the Seed to Forest Alliance.

News published: 16 December 2022

Last year in September our partner Terraformation launched the Seed to Forest Alliance, to support biodiverse, native reforestation by providing a network to connect forestry teams with financial and technical support. This initiative also contributes to research and thought leadership to accelerate reforestation, as well as collaborating to share results, best practices and expertise.

The Seed to Forest Alliance will enable rapid scaling up of native forest restoration around the globe, focusing on the inadequate supply of native species seed, which has been identified as a key bottleneck for meeting global ecological restoration targets.

Terraformation has published The Global Seed Bank Index, the first review of existing seed banks worldwide. The report analysed the number of seed banks that are needed to meet the “global restoration potential” — or, the area of land in the world that is available for ecological restoration – that is at least 680 million hectares – roughly twice the size of India.

Terraformation’s research found 410 seed banks that currently store native species across 96 countries. This means that more than half of the world’s countries have no known native species seed banks.

BGCI and Terraformation have worked in partnership previously to provide new seed banks to support global reforestation initiatives.

Global companies have committed to planting over 3.6 billion trees in their sustainability plans, and governments have committed to ambitious restoration pledges. Furthermore, billions of dollars of private investment have been committed to protect and restore forests. However, without investment and innovation in global seed banking infrastructures these targets are not achievable.

Yishan Wong, founder and CEO of Terraformation, said: “Lasting climate solutions only come from collective action across diverse stakeholders. We’re incredibly excited to be working with organisations with the expertise, influence and determination to have a real impact on reforestation around the world. Native ecosystem restoration — with the right plants in the right places — is the most effective and immediately scalable carbon capture solution. Together, we can restore the future of our planet by conserving one of our most valuable resources at the heart of restoration: the seeds.”

Paul Smith, Secretary General of BGCI, said: “Native seed supply, and the protocols and expertise to turn those seeds into plants are huge bottlenecks for successful reforestation and restoration all over the world. For this reason, BGCI is proud to be part of the Seed to Forest Alliance, and we are doing all we can to mobilise data and knowledge from our member organisations who, collectively, grow a third of all known plant species.”

Through greater availability and distribution of seeds, the partnership will increase the access to a wider diversity of native tree species, as well as increasing the representation of threatened tree species, which is vital in maintaining levels of biodiversity.

The Alliance is underpinned by three guiding principles:

• Biodiversity and ecological resilience: the Alliance will only support native, biodiverse forest restoration in accordance with the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions. It does not support monocultures or destructive forestry practices.
• Community: the Alliance believes communities are at the heart of resilient and just land restoration. It supports forest restoration projects in alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially with regard to gender equality, decent work, human health and well-being, and elimination of poverty.
• Measurable impact and transparency: the Alliance prioritises impact, and as such will set quantifiable goals and transparently report progress.

The Seed to Forest Alliance strongly believes that several of the new targets in the Global Biodiversity Framework should address seed banking for native seeds. Restoring nature starts with seeds. For further details, see the letter that calls on all COP15 delegates to emphasise seeds even more strongly in the new Framework, and to specifically address the vital role of seed banking in restoring ecosystems and mitigating climate change.

Read the letter that the Seed To Forest Alliance have written to COP15 delegates regarding the importance of native seeds and native seed banks by downloading this PDF: S2F Alliance letter for COP15 (1) (002)