Republic of South Africa

Large stand of the “kokerboom”, Aloe dichotoma near Nieuwoudtville, Northern Cape Province, October 2005 (Photo: O. Pekeur)

The large and unique flora of the Republic of South Africa needs no introduction. More than 24,000 species, with 1000s of them endemic, but, at the same time, near 400 species classified as Vulnerable, or (Critically) Endangered on the national Red Data List. The South African partners (then called the National Botanical Institute or NBI) have been jointly collecting with Kew’s seed bank since 1996, formalising this into a five-year, Agreement-based project in 2000. During this first phase of the MSB South Africa Project (2000-2005) methodologies for targeting, collecting, processing and banking seed were developed. In addition, information on the collections made (e.g. seed numbers, quality and germination protocols) was gathered at the MSB and repatriated to South Africa. Moreover, Erich van Wyk has been building up an extensive network of contacts at State and federal levels during this phase, enabling him to prioritise species for ex situ conservation. All this has lead to more than 1100 species being conserved and documented of which more than 80% were of target species for rarity, threatened status or utilitarian aspects.

Protea cynaroides, the King Protea, seeds of which were conserved in January 2006

(Photo: SANBI)

An extension for another five years of the collaboration with SANBI (as NBI is now called) was agreed in May 2005. The purpose of this Second Phase is to deliver a fully integrated ex situ conservation strategy, which aims to produce a ‘joined up’ approach to ex situ conservation. This will include delivery of the following outputs: (1) continued seed collection (by the Pretoria and Cape Town teams), processing (mainly by the Cape Town team), and storage (at the National Plant Genetic Resources Centre in Roodeplaat near Pretoria, and, in parallel, at the MSB), (2) capacity building, (3) working in partnership with in-country organizations, (4) propagation of seeds (for instance to bulk up seed of critically endangered species), and (5) reintroduction of selected species. Recent examples of the conservation and propagation of Vulnerable or Endangered species are Roridula dentata and Gladiolus aureus (see feature links).

The project aims to collect around 250 species new to the MSB each year.

The rare endemic succulent Braunsia vanrensburgii in the De Hoop nature reserve, Western Cape, January 2006 (Photo: O. Pekeur)

A key achievement of this new 5-year project will be to apply the above output method to as many threatened species in South Africa as possible and to develop links and working relationships with other conservation practitioners (these are already in place with the Provincial nature conservation authorities of Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Western Cape). This will ultimately result in a network of in situ and ex situ conservation projects in South Africa to which the MSBP will provide services. These services will include practical help in areas such as botanical survey, seed collecting, processing and germination. It will also include training in these methodologies. In return, the MSBP will receive data and seed collections.

In parallel the University of KwaZulu Natal is engaged with the MSB in a project to study the conservation of seeds of desiccation-sensitive species by means of cryo-preservation.

The program in South Africa is sponsored by the Millennium Seed Bank Project and was co-sponsored by the British American Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership during 2004-07..