South Korea seeks international partners to preserve climate-resilient plants

South Korea is seeking to expand a national conservation effort into an international safety net for plant genetic resources as climate change places growing pressure on crops, forests and food systems around the world.

At the centre of the initiative are crop wild relatives, wild plant species closely related to cultivated crops whose genetic traits could prove increasingly valuable as growing conditions become more difficult, as highlighted in an article by The Korea Herald. 

Preserving their seeds could help scientists develop crops capable of adapting to drought, disease, salinity and extreme temperatures, while also providing a way to restore ecosystems following environmental disasters.

The Korea Arboreta and Gardens Institute (KoAGI), established under the Korea Forest Service in 2017, oversees the Baekdudaegan Global Seed Vault as well as several national conservation facilities. Its president, Shim Sang-taek, said South Korea now aims to take on a greater role in the international effort to safeguard plant genetic resources.

“The climate crisis and biodiversity loss are global challenges that no single country can solve alone,” Shim told the Korean outlet in an interview, adding, “International cooperation and joint action grounded in scientific evidence are more important than ever.”

Unlike many modern crops, which have been selectively bred primarily for characteristics such as high yields and uniformity, wild relatives can retain traits that allow them to survive under harsh environmental conditions. Those characteristics could become particularly important as climate change alters agricultural environments and creates conditions that allow new pests and diseases to emerge.

Since South Korea conducted its first national inventory of crop wild relatives in 2022, KoAGI has identified 206 species, including wild relatives of blueberries and onions, according to the Korea Herald.

“The most important task is to build a foundation where research institutes and experts from different countries can work together to find solutions,” he said.

The institute is working with eight universities to collect approximately 300 genetic samples each year from around 30 species. It has also assembled more than 7,100 data points documenting potentially useful traits found among the plants.

Emergency preparedness

South Korea’s conservation efforts extend beyond collecting and cataloguing plants. The Baekdudaegan Global Seed Vault in Bonghwa, North Gyeongsang Province, provides long-term storage for wild plant seeds, effectively serving as a reserve against natural disasters, environmental destruction and species extinction.

The underground facility currently holds around 290,000 seed accessions, including approximately 131,000 originating outside South Korea.

The value of such reserves could become particularly apparent if rising temperatures and increasingly unpredictable weather conditions damage staple crops. Plant breeders could potentially use genetic traits preserved from wild relatives to develop more resilient varieties, helping maintain food supplies as agricultural conditions change.

Protecting plant diversity could also have benefits beyond food production, including safeguarding local livelihoods and traditional food systems while preserving genetic resources that may eventually have medical or commercial applications.

KoAGI is seeking to make itself part of a broader international system for protecting vulnerable plant species by helping collect seed samples, establish backup stocks and expand scientific knowledge of species that could otherwise be lost as climate change and environmental degradation accelerate.

Small island developing states are among those facing particularly severe risks from rising sea levels, extreme weather and habitat loss. At the same time, many of these countries lack the infrastructure, technical expertise and resources required to maintain seed collections over the long term.

Through its “Island Seeds, Global Legacy” initiative, KoAGI provides participating institutions with training, equipment and operational assistance to support the collection and preservation of wild plant seeds.

The initiative received international support at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi in October last year. A resolution backing seed-vault-based conservation of wild plants in small island developing states was approved by 790 of the 825 member organisations that took part in the vote.

By Nazrin Sadigova