The Baekdudaegan National Arboretum was established to promote biodiversity by collecting and conserving plant resources in the Baekdudaegan region and high mountains, which are regarded as key ecological regions in South Korea; provide pleasure and happiness for the public through management of its exhibition garden in a beautiful way; and contribute to national and regional economic development through research on identifying and analyzing plants that can be effectively used in industries.
An Overview of Research
The Baekdudaegan National Arboretum has conducted various projects on in situ conservation, ex situ conservation, and use of biological resources.
In-situ conservation
Investigation of biological resources
Developing strategies for conserving key species
Analyzing damaged forest restoration
Ex-situ conservation
Collecting biologcal resources
Storing seed and growing species for research in the short and medium-long term
Developing techniques for facilitating mass propagation
Use of biological resources
Accumulating data of wild plnat seeds
Ex-situ conservation project of the Korean CWRs
Native plant seed information database
National seed cluster - forest seed quality management
Identifying biological resources that can be effectivity used in industries
Baekdudaegan Global Seed Vault (BGSV)
The Baekdudaegan Global Seed Vault is a facility officially opened in 2018 to conserve global biodiversity threatened by the climate crisis. Unlike the Svalbard Seed Vault in Norway, it is the world's first seed vault to store wild plant seeds. The condition of the storage room maintains a temperature of -20°C and a relative humidity below 40%, aiming for long-term seed conservation. All rights to the seeds stored in the seed vault belong to the deposit institutions, and the seeds can be withdrawn for use in ecosystem and species restoration as needed by the deposit institutions. The Baekdudaegan Global Seed Vault has been introduced as a success story in the UN's The Global Forest Goals Report 2021.