Our Approach

We aim to ensure the region can adapt and reduce the risk of climate change driven biodiversity loss. We will forge a strong collaborative transnational network of botanic gardens & public bodies equipped with the correct knowledge, skills and resourcing to ensure that strategies for species conservation are developed, common standards are maintained, data management tools are in place, and resources are shared.

Key actions include:

- Public engagement & stakeholder consultation

- National & transnational species prioritization for the project

- A transnational sample duplication strategy

- Training & knowledge exchange

Seed banking is a well-established solution to the large-scale, long-term conservation of plant diversity & habitat restoration. But, its uptake & deployment in the NPA region has not been equitable & currently does not meet the current & future needs of climate threats to wild plant diversity.

In the NPA area seed banking has been uptaken to varying degrees: e.g. The Global Seed Vault in Svalbard is a global repository for crops but does not address wild flora. Finland has a long established seed bank following a successful LIFE project; Ireland’s national seed bank is in its infancy & Iceland has not yet established a seed bank. By working together we will democratise knowledge & resources, extending the reach & impact of seed bank solutions in the NPA

Key actions include:

-        Piloting Iceland’s first seed bank

-        Upscaling Ireland’s seed bank

-        Determination & optimisation of seed banking methodologies for novel species

-        Collecting and conserving species of national & transnational importance

Not all plant species are suitable for seed banking. Some do not tolerate the drying/freezing process of conventional banking systems. Others simply do not produce seed (e.g. spore producing plants like mosses & ferns). Such species are thus more difficult to conserve ex-situ & alternatives must be explored. Advanced biotechnologies (e.g. genetics, cryopreservation & micropropagation) offer solutions to this challenge. However, such technologies have not been widely applied in the NPA & have not been trialled for all species of conservation concern. The team at the University of Oulu, Finland, previously pioneered cryopreservation technologies for some species, while the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland BG & University of Oulu both maintain in-vitro micropropagated (i.e. tissue culture) collections. By working together, this work package aims to expand the use of conservation biotechnology tools & to upscale capacity, applying the tools to conserve novel groups like ferns, mosses & liverwort species.

Key actions include:

-        Trialling genetic tools to inform threatened species conservation

-        Piloting & optimising in-vitro cultivation for priority species

-        Piloting Ireland’s first cryopreservation facility

-        Upscaling Finland’s cryopreservation capacity

-        Optimising cryopreservation methodologies for priority species.