A significant part of mankind remains unaware of how our wastefulness, greed and indiscriminate use of our planet's resources has led to the irreversible processes transforming natural areas into sites desecrated by pollution and the largest mass extinction of wildlife in history. The deteriorating condition of the earth's natural areas also has resulted in loud calls by many professionals for the ex situ preservation of important plant species.
An important step taken by Hungarian authorities under the auspices of the Life+ Project was the establishment of the Hungarian Pannon Seed Bank. Seeds from over 800 species of vascular plants will be collected and preserved by the Plant Diversity Centre, Ecological Research Centre and Ecological and Botanical Institute. For security purposes, a duplicate of the entire seed collection are stored by Aggtelek National Park deep within the former ore and mineral mine under Esztamos Hill.LIFE+ Biodiversity projects contribute to the implementation of “Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 – and beyond.” The establishment of the Pannon Seed Bank aims for the long-term ex situ conservation of Hungarian vascular wild plants.
