Editing Seed bank (section)

== Facilities ==
[[File:Plant tissue cultures, National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, USDA.jpg|thumb|Plant tissue cultures being grown at a [[USDA]] seed bank, the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation]]
There are about 6 million accessions, or samples of a particular population, stored as seeds in about 1,300 genebanks throughout the world as of 2006.<ref>{{Cite book|publisher = Springer India|date = 2015-01-01|isbn = 9788132222828|pages = 445–459|doi = 10.1007/978-81-322-2283-5_23|language = en|first = P. E.|last = Rajasekharan|editor-first = Bir|editor-last = Bahadur|editor-first2 = Manchikatla Venkat|editor-last2 = Rajam|editor-first3 = Leela|editor-last3 = Sahijram|editor-first4 = K. V.|editor-last4 = Krishnamurthy|title = Plant Biology and Biotechnology|chapter = Gene Banking for Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources}}</ref> This amount represents a small fraction of the world's [[biodiversity]], and many regions of the world have not been fully explored.
* The [[Svalbard Global Seed Vault]] has been built inside a sandstone mountain in a man-made tunnel on the frozen [[Norway|Norwegian]] island of [[Spitsbergen]], which is part of the [[Svalbard]] archipelago, about {{convert|1307|km|mi}} from the North Pole. It is designed to survive catastrophes such as [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] and world war. It is operated by the [[Global Crop Diversity Trust]]. The area's [[permafrost]] will keep the vault below the freezing point of water, and the seeds are protected by 1-metre thick walls of steel-reinforced concrete. There are two airlocks and two blast-proof doors.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/09/climate.deep.freeze.reut/index.html |title=Work starts on Arctic seed vault - CNN.com |website=www.cnn.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211174905/http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/09/climate.deep.freeze.reut/index.html |archive-date=11 February 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The vault accepted the first seeds on 26 February 2008.
* The [[Millennium Seed Bank Partnership|Millennium Seed Bank]] is located in the grounds of [[Wakehurst Place]] in [[West Sussex]], near [[London]], [[UK]]. Established in 1996, it is the largest seed bank in the world (and will longterm be at least 100 times bigger than [[Svalbard Global Seed Vault]]),<ref name="TED Kew">{{cite web|last=Drori|first=Jonathan|title=Why we're storing billions of seeds|url=http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_drori_why_we_re_storing_billions_of_seeds.html|work=TED2009|publisher=[[TED (conference)]]|access-date=2011-12-11|date=May 2009|archive-date=2011-12-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208213834/http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_drori_why_we_re_storing_billions_of_seeds.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> providing space for the storage of billions of seed samples in a nuclear bomb proof multi-story underground vault.<ref name="TED Kew"/> Its ultimate aim being to store every plant species possible. It is already (2024) home to over 2.4 billion seeds, representing over 39,000 different species of the world’s storable seeds.<ref>{{cite web |title=Millennium Seed Bank |url=https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/research-facilities/millennium-seed-bank|website=Kew Science|access-date=2024-11-12}}</ref>  Importantly they also distribute seeds to other key locations around the world, do germination tests on each species every 10 years, and other important research.<ref name="TED Kew"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kew.org/science/our-science/projects/banking-the-worlds-seeds|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706212559/http://www.kew.org/msbp/|url-status=dead|title=Banking the world's seeds &#124; Kew|archivedate=6 July 2008|website=www.kew.org|accessdate=7 June 2023}}</ref>
* [[Institute of Plant Industry|The Institute of Plant Genetic Resource]] in [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]] is probably the oldest and still one of the 5-6 largest in the world. It was started in 1924 by Russian geneticist and botanist [[Nikolai Vavilov]] and survived the 28-month [[Siege of Leningrad]] in [[World War II]] because several botanists starved to death rather than eat the collected seeds and potatoes. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1992/05/13/scientists-died-guarding-seeds-during-wwii/|title=SCIENTISTS DIED GUARDING SEEDS DURING WWII|date=May 13, 1992}}</ref>
* [[Australian PlantBank|The Australian PlantBank]] is located in the [[Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan|Australian Botanic Gardens]], [[Mount Annan]], [[New South Wales]]. It is part of the Millennium Seed Bank Project in London and incorporates the former NSW Seedbank, established in 1986 to preserve native Australian flora, especially NSW threatened species.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/science/Horticultural_Research/nsw_seedbank/about_the_nsw_seedbank |title=About the NSW Seedbank - Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust - Sydney, Australia |access-date=2012-10-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601165122/http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/science/Horticultural_Research/nsw_seedbank/about_the_nsw_seedbank |archive-date=2013-06-01 }}</ref>
** [[Australian Grains Genebank|The Australian Grains Genebank]] (AGG), in [[Horsham, Victoria]], [[Australia]], is a national center for storing genetic material for plant breeding and research. The Genebank is in a collaboration with the Australian Seed Bank Partnership on an Australian Crop Wild Relatives project. It was officially opened in March 2014 The primary reason for the bank to be created was the extreme temperatures in the area, up to {{cvt|40|C|F}} in the summer time. Because of that they had to ensure the protection of the grains all year around. The Genebank aims to collect and conserve the seeds of Australian crop wild species, that are not yet adequately represented in existing collections.
** The George Hulbert Seed Vault in [[Wagga Wagga]], [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]], is dedicated to the preservation of rice varieties, including some predating the Green Revolution.<ref>Scully, Jess.[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-08/rice-vault-storing-world-rice-heritage-wagga-wagga/104308982 George Hulbert Seed Vault to protect and provide the world's rice seed stock for up to 100 years] ''[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]'', 8 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.</ref>
* [[Indian Seed Vault]] is a secure seed bank located in a high-altitude mountain pass on the [[Chang La]] in [[Ladakh]], [[India]]. It was built in 2010 and is claimed to be the second largest in the world.<ref name="bi1">{{cite web |title=Freezing Future: Inside Chang La, India's Doomsday Vault In The Himalayas |url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/132661/chang-la-ladakh-doomsday-vault-india/ |website=The Better India |date=1 March 2018}}</ref>
** The BBA (Beej Bachao Andolan — Save the Seeds movement) began in the late 1980s in Uttarakhand, India, led by Vijay Jardhari. Seed banks were created to store native varieties of seeds.<ref>[http://beejbachaoandolan.org/about Save the Seeds Movement of the Uttarakhand Himalayas, India] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630012924/http://beejbachaoandolan.org/about |date=June 30, 2015 }}</ref>
* The National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/ncgrp/center.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111112053700/http://www.ars-grin.gov/ncgrp/center.htm|url-status=dead|title=National Center for Genetic Resources Preservatio|archivedate=12 November 2011|accessdate=7 June 2023}}</ref> in [[Fort Collins, Colorado]], is the largest seed bank in the United States.
** Desert Legume Program (DELEP) in [[Tucson]], [[Arizona]], focuses on wild species of plants in the legume family ([[Fabaceae]]), specifically legumes from dry regions around the world. The DELEP seed bank currently has over 3,600 seed collections representing nearly 1,400 species of arid land legumes originating in 65 countries on six continents. It is backed up (at least in part) in National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, and in the [[Svalbard Global Seed Vault]]. The DELEP seed bank is an accredited collection of the North American Plant Conservation Consortium.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://cals.arizona.edu/desertlegumeprogram/ | title=Desert Legume Program (DELEP) &#124; Home| date=24 January 2019}}</ref>
* [[National Gene Bank of Plants of Ukraine|The National Gene Bank of Plants of Ukraine]] was created in the 1990s in Ukraine. Described as one of the largest seed banks in the world,<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Center for Plant Genetic Resources of Ukraine - Інститут рослинництва ім. В. Я. Юр'єва НААН |url=https://yuriev.com.ua/en/pro-institut/nacionalnij-centr-genetinchih-resursiv-roslin-ukraini/ |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=yuriev.com.ua |language=en}}</ref> it was damaged during the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]] in 2022 but survived in substantial part.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Військові рф повністю знищили єдиний в Україні генетичний банк рослин |url=https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-economy/3484600-vijskovi-rf-povnistu-znisili-edinij-v-ukraini-geneticnij-bank-roslin.html |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=www.ukrinform.ua |date=16 May 2022 |language=uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Ukraine's agricultural research is threatened by the war|url=https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2022/05/25/ukraines-agricultural-research-is-threatened-by-the-war |access-date=2022-05-18 |newspaper=The Economist |language=en}}</ref>
* [https://www6.paca.inrae.fr/gafl_eng/Vegetable-Germplasm-Centre The INRAE Centre for Vegetable Germplasm] in [[Avignon]], [[France]] stores over 10,000 species of five vegetable crops as seeds: aubergine (eggplant), pepper, tomato, melon and lettuce collections, together with their wild or cultivated relatives. Species from the collections have geographically diverse origins, are generally well-described and fixed for traits of agronomic or scientific interest, and have available passport data.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Salinier |first1=Jérémy |last2=Lefebvre |first2=Véronique |last3=Besombes |first3=Didier |last4=Burck |first4=Hélène |last5=Causse |first5=Mathilde |last6=Daunay |first6=Marie-Christine |last7=Dogimont |first7=Catherine |last8=Goussopoulos |first8=Juliette |last9=Gros |first9=Christophe |last10=Maisonneuve |first10=Brigitte |last11=McLeod |first11=Louis |date=2022-01-27 |title=The INRAE Centre for Vegetable Germplasm: Geographically and Phenotypically Diverse Collections and Their Use in Genetics and Plant Breeding |journal=Plants |language=en |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=347 |doi=10.3390/plants11030347 |issn=2223-7747 |pmc=8838894 |pmid=35161327|doi-access=free |bibcode=2022Plnts..11..347S }}</ref>
* [[Meise Botanic Garden|Meise Botanical Garden]] houses a seed bank in Belgium. Among other things, it aims to preserve endangered and rare wild species of Belgian flora.It also includes wild beans, wild bananas and seeds of the Copper plants of Katanga.