Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women from Uganda and the UK working at seed banks to secure the future of the world's plant life.
Gloria Otieno is a scientist and genetic policy specialist with Alliance Biodiversity CIAT working to create and support seed banks in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. She grew up on a farm in Uganda and witnessed her community lose access to the finger millet they used for ceremonial occasions and only got it back through a gene bank. She says it brought home to her the importance of preserving a diversity of crops.
Charlotte Lusty is head of seed collections at the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew in the UK, the world’s biggest wild seed bank. The underground vaults store millions of seeds from across the globe. With an estimated 45 per cent of flowering plants globally threatened with extinction, it’s an important insurance policy for the future.
(Image: (L) Charlotte Lusty, credit Sebastian Kettley. (R) Gloria Otieno, credit Sustlives.))