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  3. The Millennium Seed Bank Project One of the largest conservation projects ever undertaken; this international collaboration

The Millennium Seed Bank Project One of the largest conservation projects ever undertaken; this international collaboration

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问题                     The Millennium Seed Bank Project
    One of the largest conservation projects ever undertaken; this international collaboration aims to safeguard over 24, 000 plant species world-wide against extinction and to secure the future of the UK’s native flowering plants. A new building to house the seed vaults will open in the summer at Wakehurst Place in Sussex. It will include an exhibition and provide a world resource for seed conservation, research and education.
    The total project costs is about ￡ 80 million. The Millennium Commission is providing a grant of up to ￡ 30 million and we are also particularly grateful to Orange plc whose early commitment was so crucial, and to the Wellcome Trust, the world’s largest medical research charity. Recognising the enormous contribution that plants make to successful remedies, the Trust has provided 9. 2 million towards the building itself which will be known as the Wellcome Trust Millennium Building. Much of the remaining cost will be sought from international funding agencies.
    Why do we need to conserve plants?
    Within fifty years, one quarter of the world’s plants could be condemned to extinction. Should this happen, many thousands of animals will disappear as well, but perhaps most importandy, the human cost will be huge. As well as providing staple food crops, plants are the source of a great many medicines, and form the principal supply of fuel and building materials in many parts of the world. They also protect the soil and help to regulate the climate. However, plants are often lost before we know anything about their potential benefits for society.
    Why do we need seed banks?
    We would always like plants and their and habitats to be conserved in the wild. Sadly, pressures on the environment are so great that it is not always possible to do this. Because we can’t always guarantee the safety of a plant in its natural environment, banking seeds provides an effective form of insurance. Seed banks are a very efficient and cost-effective means of conserving plant species because seeds occupy very little space and require little attention.
    Many thousands of seeds for each species are stored in a seed bank. Each seed represents a potential new plant. Life’s strength is in its diversity, so the greater variety of seeds we store for each species, the more we can guarantee that species’safe future.
    Aims of the millennium Seed Bank
    The project aims to collect and conserve seeds from the entire UK native seed-bearing flora by the year 2000. Through international collaboration the aim is to bank 24,000 species, principally from the world’s dry lands, by 2010.
    The project will also carry out research to improve all aspects of conservation, make seeds available for research and species reintroduction into the wild, and it aims to promote public interest in plant conservation.
The Wellcome Trust has been Britain’s only source of funding for plant species conservation so far.
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C类竞赛（非英语专业本科）

大学生英语竞赛（NECCS）

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