The role of seed banking technology in the management of biodiversity in Indonesia

Indonesian biodiversity including the rich flora is facing various threats, including deforestation, habitat degradation, fire, natural disasters and climate change. Many ex situ conservation strategies have been implemented in response to this problem, including the development of new local botanic gardens in each province throughout Indonesia. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the important role of seed banks in forming part of the botanic gardens’ collections management strategies ̶they now play an increasingly important role in saving the Indonesian flora from extinction. This study was conducted by undertaking a literature review and analysis of secondary data on the four largest botanic gardens of Indonesia. Currently there are 33 botanic gardens in Indonesia consisting of five national botanic gardens under Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI/Indonesian Institute of Sciences), two botanic gardens under universities and 26 botanic gardens managed by Local Goverments. Among the five national botanic gardens, four manage seed banks: the Seed Bank of the Center for Plant Conservation Botanic Gardens/Bogor Botanic Gardens banks 749 accessions covering 460 species, 305 genera and 114 families; Cibodas Botanic Garden Seed Bank has 61 accessions covering 57 species, 57 genera, 40 families; Purwodadi Botanic Garden Seed Bank has 413 accessions covering 207 species, 134 genera and 46 families; and Eka Karya Bali Botanic Garden Seed Bank maintains 132 accessions covering 89 species, 43 genera and 21 families. The Indonesian Botanic Garden Seed Banks thus hold 1,355 accessions in total, covering less than 1% of total Indonesian plant diversity. In order to increase this coverage, Indonesian seed banking capacity needs to be increased, through the technical development of existing seed banks and the engagement of local botanic gardens throughout Indonesia to establish mini seed banks using the community seed bank approach.