"Doomsday" seed bank threatened by financial crisis

One third of the world’s plants are threatened with extinction By Georgina Cooper ARDINGLY, England (Reuters) – A seed bank that is trying to collect every type of plant in the world is now under threat from the global financial crisis, its director says. The Millennium Seed Bank Project aims to house all the 300,000 different plant species known to exist to ensure future biodiversity and protect a vital source of food and medicines, director Paul Smith said. The project is on track to collect 10 percent of the total by 2010 but the financial crisis is drying up funding, casting serious doubts on future collections, he said. … Each seed costs about 2,000 pounds to collect and store. The Millennium Seed Bank Project is the only project of its kind in the world which aims to collect and conserve all the planet’s wild plant diversity, Smith said. … "Thirteen million hectares of forest are cleared every year — that’s an area the size of England — and of course the plant species which occur there are going the same way," Smith said.