WEBVTT - Special episode: With His Majesty the King 0:00:03.630 --> 0:00:07.139 Welcome to a new chapter of Unearthed from the Royal 0:00:07.140 --> 0:00:11.340 Botanic Gardens, Kew. Now, this series is a little bit 0:00:11.340 --> 0:00:15.750 different for an exciting reason because this year marks the 0:00:15.750 --> 0:00:20.009 25th anniversary of the Millennium Seed Bank. Now, the Millennium 0:00:20.010 --> 0:00:23.820 Seed Bank is the largest store of wild seeds on 0:00:23.910 --> 0:00:28.020 earth, and it's also the most biodiverse place on the 0:00:28.020 --> 0:00:32.519 planet. The roots of this extraordinary initiative lie tucked away 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:36.659 deep in the Sussex countryside at Wakehurst, Kew's wild botanic 0:00:36.659 --> 0:00:40.949 garden, but its impact stretches far beyond those quiet hills. 0:00:41.729 --> 0:00:44.850 You might be thinking, " Well, that's fascinating, but why does 0:00:44.850 --> 0:00:49.229 it matter to me?" Because the future of life on 0:00:49.229 --> 0:00:53.310 Earth may very well depend on the seeds stored within 0:00:53.310 --> 0:00:58.230 this bank. I'm Cate Blanchett, and I'm so passionate about 0:00:58.230 --> 0:01:02.640 the Millennium Seed Bank's mission that I've become Kew's Ambassador for Wakehurst. And 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.450 the work done here is vital. But don't just take 0:01:06.450 --> 0:01:10.589 my word for it. In this special episode marking a 0:01:10.590 --> 0:01:15.179 momentous milestone, you'll hear from another voice, one that has 0:01:15.180 --> 0:01:20.399 long championed the natural world. On a sunny summer afternoon 0:01:20.700 --> 0:01:24.630 Kew's Senior Research Leader in Seed Conservation, Dr. Elinor Breman 0:01:24.690 --> 0:01:27.750 and I were invited to the private gardens of Windsor 0:01:27.750 --> 0:01:31.470 Castle where we had the honor of speaking about the Millennium 0:01:31.470 --> 0:01:36.630 Seed Bank with Kew's patron, His Majesty, The King. Now 0:01:36.630 --> 0:01:41.220 you may hear the occasional rumble overhead. Windsor lies directly 0:01:41.220 --> 0:01:44.310 beneath a busy fight path. It's a gentle reminder perhaps 0:01:44.310 --> 0:01:49.110 that nature is so often interrupted by human activity. King 0:01:49.110 --> 0:01:52.350 Charles has a deep connection to the natural world, and 0:01:52.350 --> 0:01:55.860 this is evident through decades of conservation and philanthropic work. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.250 But you may not know that he opened the Millennium 0:01:59.250 --> 0:02:03.360 Seed Bank back in the year 2000, and has taken an active 0:02:03.390 --> 0:02:05.490 interest in its progress ever since. 0:02:08.130 --> 0:02:10.290 I wanted to take you back to the start of 0:02:10.290 --> 0:02:11.609 the Millennium Seed Bank. 0:02:11.610 --> 0:02:11.851 Were you there when I came? 0:02:11.851 --> 0:02:15.330 I was not, unfortunately. I wish I had been. And I 0:02:15.330 --> 0:02:18.270 wasn't even there when you came back in 2019. 0:02:18.270 --> 0:02:18.390 Really? 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:22.260 But it's been wonderful to have your involvement and support 0:02:22.410 --> 0:02:24.810 for all of that time, so thank you so much. 0:02:24.870 --> 0:02:25.200 No, because I knew how important it was. 0:02:27.389 --> 0:02:30.300 It was such an innovative, state of the art and 0:02:30.330 --> 0:02:36.090 bold initiative, so future- facing, but now it's just so 0:02:36.090 --> 0:02:39.780 vital. And you've been such a pioneer in this space. 0:02:39.810 --> 0:02:44.669 I do forget that, was it 40 something years ago? 45 years ago? I remember I 0:02:44.669 --> 0:02:49.440 became a patron of the Henry Doubleday Research Association, which has 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.980 now become Garden Organic. But in those days, it was 0:02:52.980 --> 0:03:00.180 actually rescuing all the heritage vegetables and fruits and plants 0:03:00.180 --> 0:03:04.710 and everything. Because at the time, all the old varieties were 0:03:04.710 --> 0:03:07.801 being thrown away, wasn't considered as well. 0:03:07.801 --> 0:03:07.802 They were being lost. Right. Yeah. 0:03:07.802 --> 0:03:10.110 And the same with, that's why I became patron of the 0:03:10.169 --> 0:03:12.839 Rare Breed Survival Trust, to help with the native breeds 0:03:12.990 --> 0:03:16.799 matter. Everything was being shrunk down to the absolute minimum 0:03:17.130 --> 0:03:23.190 for maximum production purposes. Anything that was not maximum production 0:03:23.190 --> 0:03:24.510 was not considered vital. 0:03:24.510 --> 0:03:24.511 Was gone. 0:03:24.511 --> 0:03:28.260 But I just felt it was critical to keep the balance always. 0:03:28.260 --> 0:03:28.351 They're very foresighted. 0:03:28.351 --> 0:03:32.160 Because you may need them at a later stage. Don't throw them away. 0:03:32.550 --> 0:03:32.610 No. 0:03:33.180 --> 0:03:37.440 So it was quite difficult. I know how absolute critical it 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:41.040 all is in the destruction of rainforests, the extinction of 0:03:41.460 --> 0:03:46.591 endless species which have very likely remarkable properties, medical and everything else, without any concern. 0:03:46.591 --> 0:03:54.150 Yes. It's sort of we understand the built world and the history, but we don't think about the 0:03:54.150 --> 0:03:55.500 history contained within a seed. 0:03:55.530 --> 0:03:55.590 No, no, no. 0:03:56.250 --> 0:03:59.070 And the importance of... I only actually became aware of 0:03:59.070 --> 0:04:01.500 the concept of an allium seed through the work that 0:04:01.710 --> 0:04:05.460 you've done, so it's been so influential and much appreciated. 0:04:05.460 --> 0:04:05.940 Thank you. 0:04:05.940 --> 0:04:08.790 But it's all contained and the Seed Bank 25 years on. 0:04:08.850 --> 0:04:12.180 I know. So it was interesting because it relates to 0:04:12.180 --> 0:04:15.300 that... The origins of seed banking of wild plants came 0:04:15.300 --> 0:04:18.659 from agriculture and seed saving. And then, one of the 0:04:18.660 --> 0:04:20.880 things at the heart of the Millennium Seed Bank, apart 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:24.270 from plant conservation on a global scale, was really that 0:04:24.270 --> 0:04:27.360 engagement with the public and making them understand the need 0:04:27.420 --> 0:04:30.539 for the conservation. So this is a mini seed bank 0:04:30.540 --> 0:04:31.830 in a Tupperware box. 0:04:32.850 --> 0:04:33.481 State of the art. 0:04:33.481 --> 0:04:35.400 State of the art, doesn't get any better than this. But you can 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.640 bank seeds to international kind of standards just with this 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.580 box. And it was something that we developed just after 0:04:41.580 --> 0:04:44.669 the Seed Bank opened so that anyone visiting could take 0:04:44.670 --> 0:04:47.250 a piece of this science and the conservation home with 0:04:47.250 --> 0:04:49.050 them and feel like it was something they could do. 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.640 Getting people engaged in conservation has been such a vital 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:54.690 piece of the work. 0:04:55.380 --> 0:04:58.860 I'm so glad. Because now what is it? It's 85% 0:04:58.860 --> 0:04:59.430 or something of the indigenous plants here are collected. 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.039 Yeah, so we've managed to bank already 85% of the 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:09.420 UK's threshened flora. So there's some seeds that you can't 0:05:09.420 --> 0:05:12.721 bank. They just don't like being dried and frozen. 0:05:12.721 --> 0:05:13.111 Recalciant. 0:05:13.890 --> 0:05:16.320 Recalciant. It's a great name for them, isn't it? But 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:18.750 of those that we can bank, we're about 98% there. 0:05:18.750 --> 0:05:21.719 So now we're trying to capture more genetic diversity within 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.720 those, just make sure that we've got them collected from 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.210 all the populations across the UK. We've done some great 0:05:27.210 --> 0:05:30.480 work on UK trees. And in fact, some elms as 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.930 part of a conservation program that we've been doing with 0:05:33.930 --> 0:05:36.480 Natural England are actually out here in the Windsor Great 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.801 Park. Yeah. So we've sent some material back from the brink. 0:05:40.801 --> 0:05:41.190 Well done. Yes, yes, yes. 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.029 Well, thank you for providing a home for them. 0:05:45.029 --> 0:05:47.460 No, no, no. Well, I keep trying to provide homes for 0:05:47.460 --> 0:05:50.190 lots of these sort of things I get given. I went to the National Pinetum the other day in Bedgebury. 0:05:52.500 --> 0:05:53.010 Yeah, wonderful place. 0:05:53.010 --> 0:05:55.740 Which did start with Kew. 0:05:55.980 --> 0:05:55.981 Yes. 0:05:55.981 --> 0:05:56.279 Was it in 1925 or was it '29? 0:05:58.080 --> 0:05:59.580 Yeah, it was back in the '20s, I'm not sure 0:05:59.580 --> 0:06:00.089 which year. 0:06:00.660 --> 0:06:02.221 But they've got this incredible collection there. 0:06:02.221 --> 0:06:02.222 Yeah. No, absolutely. Priceless. 0:06:02.222 --> 0:06:06.120 They've given me something there to try and see if you can... 0:06:06.450 --> 0:06:08.789 Oh, fantastic. And see if it can grow here as well. 0:06:10.110 --> 0:06:13.290 I understand there's been a lot of regeneration of this 0:06:13.620 --> 0:06:14.820 part of the private garden as well. 0:06:14.821 --> 0:06:15.090 Yes. 0:06:15.420 --> 0:06:18.089 That's a real labor of love. This didn't look like this three or four years ago. 0:06:18.089 --> 0:06:20.700 Yeah. Because I've been making more beds. I marked them all 0:06:20.700 --> 0:06:22.140 out where I wanted them. 0:06:22.141 --> 0:06:22.142 It's a beautiful design. 0:06:22.142 --> 0:06:29.700 And more trees and things, but trying to keep them going is the problem with this 0:06:29.820 --> 0:06:31.920 dry weather. 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:35.760 Well, to think that you have to drought-proof of garden here in this bucolic isle is... 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.000 Absolutely, because the key nowadays I think is I've been trying to do 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.359 for years is take the rainwater off the roofs and 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:44.279 somehow get it onto the garden. 0:06:44.490 --> 0:06:44.580 Yes. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.010 And the grey water is the other thing I've been 0:06:47.010 --> 0:06:47.909 trying to show what you can do with. 0:06:48.779 --> 0:06:51.659 But what you can do with black water too, it 0:06:51.660 --> 0:06:52.980 can be purified to drinking. 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:53.339 Yeah. 0:06:53.339 --> 0:06:58.710 But as an Australian, I'm water obsessed. And in fact, 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.580 I was really humble, but also inspired by the work 0:07:02.580 --> 0:07:05.670 that the Seed Bank had done with partner organizations in 0:07:05.670 --> 0:07:12.180 Australia. And after the 2019 bushfires at Cudlee Creek, almost 0:07:12.180 --> 0:07:16.380 30,000 hectares were destroyed and there were many species that 0:07:16.380 --> 0:07:18.869 were in danger of being completely wiped out. But of 0:07:18.870 --> 0:07:23.250 course, with the South Australian Seed Conservation Center, they had 0:07:23.250 --> 0:07:26.160 banked over a thousand seeds of a key variety. 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:31.020 Yes. It's clover glycine. It was a rare species vulnerable 0:07:31.020 --> 0:07:34.470 in Australia, and our partners in Australia had banked it 0:07:34.470 --> 0:07:37.380 in 2007, but it had only ever been a small 0:07:37.380 --> 0:07:39.600 collection because there were only a few plants left in the wild. 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:43.470 And unfortunately they were lost during those bushfires, but we 0:07:43.470 --> 0:07:45.300 were able to send them back the seeds and they 0:07:45.300 --> 0:07:49.050 could propagate new plants and collect more seeds. And it's 0:07:49.050 --> 0:07:51.990 been a really successful reintroduction story. And I think it 0:07:51.990 --> 0:07:55.590 just shows the value of seed banking. It's not a 0:07:55.590 --> 0:07:57.990 static place. It's not that we want the seeds to 0:07:57.990 --> 0:08:00.150 end up in the bank. They're there for safekeeping. But 0:08:00.150 --> 0:08:01.980 the whole idea is they're going to be plants in 0:08:01.980 --> 0:08:05.340 a landscape, not seeds in a glass jar in a 0:08:05.340 --> 0:08:08.010 minus 20 freezer. That's where they need to be for 0:08:08.010 --> 0:08:08.731 now, but it's not their end story. 0:08:08.731 --> 0:08:14.520 Because I was riveted in Australia last year, I managed 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.550 to go and visit them briefly, the Botanic Gardens in Canberra. 0:08:18.090 --> 0:08:18.480 Yes. 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:20.971 But their particular place where they do the smoke testing. 0:08:20.971 --> 0:08:24.210 Yeah. So we've got some here. 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:26.461 They told me about all this there. 0:08:26.461 --> 0:08:26.461 Senecios. 0:08:26.461 --> 0:08:26.462 Senecios, yes. 0:08:26.462 --> 0:08:30.510 So these are fire- adapted species, so you have to adapt to 0:08:30.510 --> 0:08:34.140 your environment. And these guys will only open once a 0:08:34.140 --> 0:08:36.510 fire has been through. So this one, the seed pods 0:08:36.510 --> 0:08:38.910 are still closed. We had to blowtorch this- 0:08:38.910 --> 0:08:39.329 Did you? Right. Senecios. 0:08:39.330 --> 0:08:43.320 ... In the lab to get it open because they'll only respond to fire. 0:08:43.530 --> 0:08:43.650 Yep. 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.679 And then these are another species of Leucadendron from South Africa, 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:48.450 also only responds to fires. 0:08:48.929 --> 0:08:51.960 So these are the Banksia seeds. There's nothing ugly in nature. 0:08:52.140 --> 0:08:54.660 This one is open. It looks like a series of 0:08:54.660 --> 0:08:58.470 little mouths, hard little mouths where the seeds have popped 0:08:58.470 --> 0:09:01.679 out. And this one is a, well, it's a bit like a toilet brush. 0:09:02.429 --> 0:09:04.230 It is a little bit like a toilet brush or 0:09:04.230 --> 0:09:07.140 a microphone, yes. It does look a little bit like 0:09:07.140 --> 0:09:09.660 a cone. It's not botanically a cone, but it kind 0:09:09.660 --> 0:09:12.270 of has that feeling of being a cone. I don't 0:09:12.270 --> 0:09:13.740 know if you want to smell this, but it smells 0:09:13.740 --> 0:09:14.250 of smoke. 0:09:14.250 --> 0:09:14.728 No, this exactly is. 0:09:15.300 --> 0:09:18.735 We put it in as a smoke solution to get 0:09:18.735 --> 0:09:21.480 the seeds to think that they've been through a fire 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.750 episode. And only then will they start to germinate. So 0:09:24.750 --> 0:09:27.240 we have to tease out and mimic the environment of 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.540 all these 40,000 different species that we hold in the 0:09:30.540 --> 0:09:33.240 bank, because it's so important to know how to turn 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.819 the seed back into a plant. That's the vital step 0:09:35.820 --> 0:09:39.630 in the restoration of all of our global habitats that 0:09:39.630 --> 0:09:40.590 we're all depending on. 0:09:40.590 --> 0:09:40.680 Right. 0:09:41.100 --> 0:09:43.380 So yeah, I think for me that part of the 0:09:43.380 --> 0:09:46.140 work of the seed bank is vital and the expertise 0:09:46.140 --> 0:09:47.250 that people have built up there. 0:09:47.250 --> 0:09:50.880 But I wonder how long it took these ones to adapt to the idea of fire 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:51.809 was the critical? 0:09:52.170 --> 0:09:53.160 Well, fire has been- 0:09:53.161 --> 0:09:54.450 40, 000 years. 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.540 Yeah, exactly. Part of the landscape for a long time. 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.860 These, even though they are fire resilient and have adapted, 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.550 the last few bushfires, the intensity of the heat has 0:10:05.550 --> 0:10:08.790 been such that it's making it even difficult for these 0:10:08.790 --> 0:10:11.520 seeds to survive. And even though they're part of the 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.479 regeneration process after a bushfire, it's just so hot that 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.670 it's a challenge even for these ones to survive. 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:21.000 Which is why I think the great thing is, and 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.640 another thing I tried to do 35 years ago, was to try and see if I 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.510 could collate another kind of seed bank of all the indigenous 0:10:27.750 --> 0:10:32.371 traditional knowledge and wisdom around the world. But in those days, it wouldn't help in any way. 0:10:32.371 --> 0:10:32.641 No. 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.520 So now the great thing is there are more and 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:39.750 more efforts. One of my organizations I started, the Circular 0:10:39.750 --> 0:10:43.650 Bioeconomy Alliance, been trying to help set up these fire 0:10:43.650 --> 0:10:48.450 resilience initiatives, particularly in Calder that I discovered in Australia 0:10:48.450 --> 0:10:53.130 because they learned so much from the Aboriginal knowledge and 0:10:53.130 --> 0:10:56.490 understanding to make sure you'd burn it off. 0:10:56.550 --> 0:10:57.540 The mosaic burning. 0:10:59.670 --> 0:10:59.940 The fuel load. 0:10:59.940 --> 0:11:02.579 I had gone to Uluru 25 years ago and two 0:11:02.580 --> 0:11:04.860 years ago where took my four children back because they'd 0:11:04.860 --> 0:11:07.979 never been to Central Australia. And the difference in the 0:11:07.980 --> 0:11:10.800 landscape, because it had been handed over to Indigenous land 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.710 managers, was profound. It was La Nina, so it was 0:11:13.710 --> 0:11:17.819 very green, but the diversity of grasses and the wildlife 0:11:17.820 --> 0:11:20.729 that had had been brought back to the base of 0:11:20.730 --> 0:11:23.880 the rock was just, it made me weep. It was 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:25.830 extraordinary, really extraordinary. 0:11:26.100 --> 0:11:28.020 And nature is resilient. And if we give her the 0:11:28.020 --> 0:11:30.329 chance, she will come back. 0:11:30.330 --> 0:11:30.540 That's right. 0:11:31.380 --> 0:11:33.809 So I see the Seed Bank as buying time to 0:11:33.809 --> 0:11:36.540 give nature that chance and to be able to have 0:11:36.540 --> 0:11:39.839 those habitats where we can put things back. So the 0:11:39.870 --> 0:11:44.340 plants that I brought along today, there's a cylindrophyllum hallii. 0:11:44.429 --> 0:11:47.370 Fingers, this one looks like a lot of little green squishy fingers. 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:51.059 Yeah, it's kind of a succulent starbursts really coming out 0:11:51.270 --> 0:11:55.290 in different places. And a pachydermic, this is from Madagascar, and 0:11:55.290 --> 0:12:00.809 actually they're quite ornamental plants. They're really beautiful. And unfortunately 0:12:00.809 --> 0:12:05.220 they're being collected from the world and so becoming endangered. But 0:12:05.220 --> 0:12:08.429 our partners, both SANBI in South Africa and SNGF in 0:12:08.429 --> 0:12:11.309 Madagascar are doing a really great job of, they're creating 0:12:11.309 --> 0:12:13.770 a little arboretum with some that have been seized in 0:12:13.770 --> 0:12:18.150 Madagascar. And in South Africa, they're doing a really great 0:12:18.150 --> 0:12:21.330 job of trying to stop the illegal poaching and trade 0:12:21.330 --> 0:12:25.470 in succulent plants as well. So I just feel anything 0:12:25.470 --> 0:12:27.420 we can do to give nature a hand. 0:12:27.690 --> 0:12:29.579 Absolutely. So do these get bigger? 0:12:29.970 --> 0:12:32.189 They're going to get much bigger, yes. That one's going 0:12:32.190 --> 0:12:34.260 to not go too much bigger because of the pot 0:12:34.260 --> 0:12:35.309 size it's in at the minute. 0:12:35.309 --> 0:12:35.310 Yes. 0:12:35.311 --> 0:12:37.620 Because the glass house is only so large. 0:12:38.370 --> 0:12:38.460 But it could get more. 0:12:38.580 --> 0:12:40.410 Yeah, they can get a lot bigger. Yes. 0:12:40.530 --> 0:12:42.511 And is it growing literally in virtually nothing, is it? 0:12:42.511 --> 0:12:47.040 Yeah. It's a very nutrient poor medium, yeah. And we 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:51.090 have two collections in the bank of this species and 0:12:51.090 --> 0:12:53.700 a lot more of the cylindrophyllum. That was down to only 0:12:53.700 --> 0:12:55.650 six individuals in the wild. 0:12:56.010 --> 0:12:56.790 But this one? 0:12:57.030 --> 0:12:57.150 Yes. 0:12:57.569 --> 0:12:59.641 These ones, do you treat them the same way? Are they better being dried or frozen or what? 0:12:59.641 --> 0:13:06.270 So the seeds are being treated in the same way. So 0:13:06.270 --> 0:13:09.839 in our Seed Bank, 85% of plants produce seeds that 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:13.950 we call orthodox. So they can withstand drying to 15% 0:13:13.950 --> 0:13:16.470 relative humidity, a bit like a long haul flight, I 0:13:16.470 --> 0:13:18.000 always say. And then... 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:19.469 That was a bad thinking about. 0:13:19.470 --> 0:13:19.650 I don't know. I wouldn't know. 0:13:22.260 --> 0:13:25.110 You'd be preserving on the flight. Let's look at it 0:13:25.110 --> 0:13:28.830 that way. And then, in an airtight container at minus 0:13:28.830 --> 0:13:31.770 20. So then that extends their natural lifespan for tens 0:13:31.770 --> 0:13:34.200 to hundreds of years, which is amazing. So it provides 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.590 an opportunity not just for today, but for future generations. 0:13:43.740 --> 0:13:45.060 And are you increasing the number of collaborators around the world who are able to help with the collections? 0:13:45.750 --> 0:13:48.000 So I think that's been the real strength of the 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.750 Millennium Seed Bank is its global partnership. And over the 0:13:51.750 --> 0:13:54.780 last 20 years, we've worked with a hundred different countries 0:13:54.780 --> 0:13:58.559 and territories to help them conserve their native flora. And 0:13:58.980 --> 0:14:02.910 I think that's almost 300 partners, different institutes. And we 0:14:02.910 --> 0:14:06.569 have a large training and capacity building program because ideally 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.420 I'd almost love to put us out of business. I 0:14:09.929 --> 0:14:13.530 would like all of our partners to have the means 0:14:13.530 --> 0:14:15.570 and the wherewithal to be doing this on their own 0:14:15.570 --> 0:14:18.209 and conserving their own native flora without any need for 0:14:18.210 --> 0:14:21.780 our support. And then with our partners, all the seeds 0:14:21.780 --> 0:14:24.240 are stored in the country of origin and a part 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.990 of it is sent to us to safety duplication. Yeah. 0:14:28.620 --> 0:14:30.810 You always need that extra insurance policy. 0:14:31.020 --> 0:14:33.990 But there is an urgency to the work that the Seed Bank 0:14:33.990 --> 0:14:38.640 does here in this country. I was shocked to learn 0:14:38.700 --> 0:14:44.340 that 97% of the wildflower meadows have been decimated. I 0:14:44.340 --> 0:14:47.280 don't think it's something that we quite understand here. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:47.340 No. 0:14:47.370 --> 0:14:49.890 Because we look around us and in the immediate term 0:14:49.890 --> 0:14:53.250 we see so much natural beauty, but we don't think 0:14:53.250 --> 0:14:54.991 about how fragile it is. 0:14:54.991 --> 0:14:58.830 Yeah. And the fact that unfortunately, the UK is already biodiversity- 0:14:58.860 --> 0:15:02.430 depauperate from the starting point as well. So we've got 0:15:02.430 --> 0:15:04.500 a lot of diversity to put back into our own 0:15:04.500 --> 0:15:08.190 landscapes, and we're doing a lot of restoration work across 0:15:08.190 --> 0:15:11.850 the chalk grassland and also working with partners all across 0:15:11.850 --> 0:15:14.160 the Four Nations. I think we've done about a hundred 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:18.570 different restoration projects over the years, which is fantastic; seeing 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.330 the seeds leaving the bank and going to their rightful homes. 0:15:22.140 --> 0:15:25.050 Well, I did manage to get an initiative going called 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:29.251 the Coronation Meadows to celebrate my late mama's anniversary of her coronation. But I thought it was a good excuse- 0:15:29.251 --> 0:15:29.252 To highlight that. 0:15:29.252 --> 0:15:40.710 Because I knew about that real damage has been done to all our flower- 0:15:40.710 --> 0:15:43.350 rich meadows since the war, really. 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:45.300 Really in that short a space of time. 0:15:45.300 --> 0:15:49.620 Absolutely incredible, because what you can destroy in one day 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:53.340 by just plowing it up takes practically a hundred years 0:15:53.340 --> 0:15:59.910 to replace. And it requires constant management, the same management 0:15:59.910 --> 0:16:03.810 to create this remarkable diversity. And I've seen it in 0:16:03.810 --> 0:16:07.530 Transylvania, it's even more unbelievable. 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:08.850 Oh, a spectacular. 0:16:08.850 --> 0:16:11.640 I'm trying to rescue some of those meadows before they 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.460 get destroyed because they're unique. 0:16:14.670 --> 0:16:17.670 And what's the difference between them, forgive my ignorance, the 0:16:17.670 --> 0:16:18.750 meadows there and here? 0:16:19.020 --> 0:16:21.150 Well. there's a lot of similarity to what we would've 0:16:21.150 --> 0:16:23.700 had in the medieval times. 0:16:24.570 --> 0:16:24.990 I see. 0:16:24.990 --> 0:16:28.680 I think. There was a terrific arrangement amongst the local 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.979 communities as to how they managed it all and shared 0:16:31.980 --> 0:16:35.281 the effort. And so on the same, the management of the forests. 0:16:35.281 --> 0:16:37.590 Right. So they didn't have big large- scale industrial farming. 0:16:37.590 --> 0:16:37.650 No, no, no. 0:16:37.650 --> 0:16:39.060 So that meant that they could preserve them. Right. 0:16:39.690 --> 0:16:42.390 And it somehow went on and on and on, same way. 0:16:43.140 --> 0:16:46.860 And that's what's enabled many of these meadows to have 0:16:46.860 --> 0:16:51.810 something like 17 or 18 or something different species of orchid. 0:16:52.860 --> 0:16:56.790 Yeah. And it's stunning, the diversity there. We worked with partners 0:16:56.820 --> 0:17:00.390 in Romania to help conserve the diversity and across the 0:17:00.390 --> 0:17:03.480 whole mountain chain as well, because there's so much unique 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:05.428 diversity there. It's absolutely stunning. 0:17:06.179 --> 0:17:08.220 No, I think it's wonderful what the Seed Bank is doing, but we've got to speed up the process. 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:12.450 We need to ramp it up. 0:17:13.410 --> 0:17:13.680 Yeah. 0:17:14.369 --> 0:17:17.609 The idea moving forward is to take advantage of a 0:17:17.609 --> 0:17:19.619 lot of the technologies that have come in over the 0:17:19.619 --> 0:17:23.850 last 25 years. We really need to upscale and improve, 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:28.619 make use of high- throughput screening for genetics, for traits, 0:17:28.650 --> 0:17:33.060 for image- taking. There's so much information held within each seed- 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:33.119 Yes, isn't there. 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.690 ... that we need to access much, much more quickly. 0:17:36.750 --> 0:17:39.869 And also, we need to scale up our conservation efforts 0:17:39.869 --> 0:17:44.310 unfortunately, because 45% of plant species are now threatened with 0:17:44.310 --> 0:17:49.169 extinction, so almost half of the plants around us, which 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.790 unimaginable. And I do think there's an education piece in 0:17:53.790 --> 0:17:57.540 that people take plants for granted still despite your years 0:17:57.540 --> 0:18:01.800 of work and others'; they don't understand their relevance to 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:04.020 the life, to the fact that literally the air we 0:18:04.020 --> 0:18:06.240 breathe would not be here without the plants. 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:10.020 And also I suppose to enable your partners to build 0:18:10.050 --> 0:18:13.470 not necessarily facilities that will survive an airplane crash or 0:18:13.770 --> 0:18:16.230 a nuclear disaster as the Seed Bank will, but to have 0:18:16.230 --> 0:18:17.070 the capacity. 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:20.460 Exactly. Anybody can do seed banking. And we have a 0:18:20.460 --> 0:18:24.270 lot of partners who don't have regular electricity supply, but 0:18:24.270 --> 0:18:28.109 they can still bank seeds to international standards and conserve 0:18:28.109 --> 0:18:30.959 their flora and all of that hope and possibility for 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:31.649 their future. 0:18:31.859 --> 0:18:32.159 Yeah. 0:18:32.910 --> 0:18:35.218 But you would think that we try to encourage the 0:18:35.369 --> 0:18:38.580 pharmaceutical sector to see that actually it's surely in their 0:18:38.580 --> 0:18:43.770 interest to invest in the protection and enhancement and restoration 0:18:43.890 --> 0:18:48.090 of this biodiversity from which so many actually of the 0:18:48.630 --> 0:18:52.109 treatments we are looking for have already come from. 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:53.490 Exactly. 0:18:53.700 --> 0:18:56.520 So it's surely in their interest to do that. But one 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:58.949 of the greatest things I've discovered is there's only at the 0:18:58.950 --> 0:19:03.150 moment the carbon credits market, which is not as good 0:19:03.150 --> 0:19:06.750 as it could be. There's no biodiversity credits set up. 0:19:06.750 --> 0:19:10.560 So this is being tried to be established now, because 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.431 that would revolutionize the opportunities for investment in the restoration of biodiversity. 0:19:14.431 --> 0:19:19.560 Definitely. Kew is involved in a lot of those conversations 0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:24.900 as well around biodiversity credits and how we can ensure 0:19:24.900 --> 0:19:27.510 that all of these large schemes under the current global 0:19:27.510 --> 0:19:33.300 biodiversity framework to restore and maintain natural habitats don't do 0:19:33.300 --> 0:19:38.070 any harm and actually enhance biodiversity rather than harming it 0:19:38.070 --> 0:19:40.560 in tree planting schemes or others. So we need to 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:41.250 monitor that. 0:19:41.430 --> 0:19:42.959 So the only way to do that is to make 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.450 sure we have ecosystem services payments. 0:19:45.510 --> 0:19:46.140 Exactly. 0:19:46.230 --> 0:19:46.800 So you make the- 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:48.210 It needs to be valuable. 0:19:48.210 --> 0:19:50.129 You make the trees more valuable alive than dead. 0:19:50.130 --> 0:19:50.281 Dead. Yes. 0:19:50.281 --> 0:19:50.580 As timber. 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:51.689 Yes. 0:19:51.750 --> 0:19:56.490 If they're particular species of it. That's why, again, I feel that agroforestry is such an 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:02.190 important and underutilized forgotten technique, which could make a dramatic 0:20:02.190 --> 0:20:06.240