A solar-powered seed bank is helping restore forests in a village the national grid never reached. Kaginga village, in Panyimur sub-county, Pakwach district, lies near the Nile, the river that generates most of Uganda’s electricity. Yet it has never been connected to the grid.
Located near the Lake Albert Nile Delta Ramsar site, Kaginga receives 8 to 11 hours of sunshine on most days, making solar energy a strong alternative. This has made it easier for Environmental Defenders (ED), a nonprofit organization, to pursue its goal of restoring native ecosystems.
A solar-powered seed bank for native trees
Sarah Lonyo, Senior Program Officer at Environmental Defenders, told Watetezi.org that in 2022 the organization established a solar-powered seed bank to support large-scale tree planting while monitoring the health and survival of the forests it plants. The seed bank and a tree nursery, located 3 km from the nearest power line, have helped ED scale up its environmental work.
The only seed bank of its kind in the region, housed in a container, supports ED’s restoration of depleted forests and its distribution and sale of seedlings to landowners. It is part of ED’s strategy to protect biodiversity, restore degraded land, and create wildlife corridors.
The seed bank supplies farms, private tree-growing projects, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with native species such as mahogany and shea, as well as fruit trees such as avocado, guava, jackfruit, and mango, to support agroforestry businesses.
Lonyo says that before it was established, the organization ran a small seed collection facility, storing seeds collected from forests and the wild in a house, sometimes in direct sunlight, an outdated practice that harmed seed quality.
Why native species matter
While the call to plant as many trees as possible is widely accepted, the general trend has been to plant exotic species such as eucalyptus and pine, whose natural habitats are in temperate regions such as Europe, Australia, North America, and parts of Asia.
“For us, we want to reverse this. We collect seed from natural trees that are vulnerable and on the verge of extinction.” — Sarah Lonyo, Senior Program Officer, Environmental Defenders
Industrial agriculture, mining, firewood and charcoal production, and logging increasingly threaten these native trees. To prevent their extinction and secure quality seed of naturally occurring species, ED relies on its solar-powered seed bank.
Until the season is right, the seeds remain in the seed bank. Because the area is water-stressed, solar power helps keep the seeds and seedlings safe until the rains are adequate for planting in nursery beds. From the nursery, seedlings are distributed to the community for planting under the guidance of agronomists.
Lonyo says ED has trained foresters and collectors to gather wild seeds from forests for the seed bank, and community members have learned how to protect them. Environmental Defenders has a network of 500 seed collectors in its area of operation, each trained to work with community monitors. Through these trainings, farmers also learn to set up nursery beds so they can sell seedlings and earn income.
The long-term goal, Lonyo said, is to provide firewood for cooking and wildlife habitat, regulate temperatures and water tables, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and attract rainfall for smallholder farmers.
Technology behind the solar-powered seed bank
The solar-powered seed bank works alongside green technology. This includes Android mobile tools, Google Earth, Terraware, and Esri mapping software. Together, they allow real-time, 24-hour monitoring of remote project sites.
Solar panels and temperature control power three large refrigerators that can store seeds for up to 50 years. ED has also purchased seed processing equipment for drying, labeling, and packaging. According to ED, the facility can store up to 2 trillion seeds a year, the kind of capacity needed to accelerate large-scale restoration even in the most remote areas.
Lonyo says ED has fully stocked the seed bank to support community training in seed collection and long-term project sustainability. Beyond storing seeds, it has created jobs for nursery keepers, seed collectors, and foresters. The main bottleneck, she said, is seed availability and supply, which is why seed banks like this are essential if communities, governments, and NGOs are to plant trees.
“Some goals may not be met unless there is a deliberate effort to have as many seed banks as possible, because to plant one trillion or three trillion trees, you need five trillion seeds. Some seeds may not grow because of environmental conditions and a lack of skills in handling them.” — Sarah Lonyo, Senior Program Officer, Environmental Defenders
The global case for more seed banks
By collecting a wide range of native seeds, ED helps keep these species from going extinct. Reports indicate that there are nearly 60,000 tree species worldwide, with about a third of them at risk of extinction, and more seed banks are needed, especially in semi-arid areas.
Terraformation’s Global Seed Bank Index shows that a small seed bank can support an estimated 2,200 to 22,000 hectares of planting, and that an estimated 46 to 450 seed banks are needed per million hectares of restoration, depending on seed needs. The four countries needing the most seed banks, the USA, China, Australia, and Brazil, are among those with the most existing seed banks.
The report calls on governments to provide centralized seed banks for long-term storage at larger scales, while investment in hub-and-spoke networks of seed banks could support much-needed local restoration with adapted, resilient seeds. Although countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Bolivia, and Malaysia have many threatened species, they lack seed banks.
The report adds that restoring native ecosystems, with the right plants in the right places, is currently the most effective and scalable carbon sequestration solution, and it can also halt biodiversity loss, although cutting greenhouse gas emissions and protecting existing ecosystems remain urgent.
Why Kaginga?
Lonyo says Kaginga offers a unique testing ground because its forest cover was heavily depleted during oil exploration. Land is also available, and the village is far from urban centers. Visitors come on learning visits, which helps spread the idea further.
Future plans for solar-powered seed banks
Lonyo says that by 2030, ED aims to have 15,000 hectares under protection. So far, ED has brought 1,500 hectares under conservation and protection and mobilized communities to conserve 10,500 hectares in Nwoya, Pakwach, Amuru, Buliisa, Hoima, and Kikuube in Uganda and in Mahagi, Mambasa, and Irumu in the DRC.
This year, ED, which works in the Murchison-Semliki, Greater Virunga, and Ituri landscapes of the Albertine Rift, plans to introduce similar seed banks in Mahagi and Mambasa in Ituri province, DRC. It also aims to build a network of community seed banks and tree nurseries run mainly by women.
Putting women at the center of restoration
Lonyo explains that women are responsible for 60 to 68 percent of food production and are stewards of the environment. Yet in a warming world, where food, water, and firewood are scarce, women face many forms of violence, along with low rates of land ownership. Many must travel long distances for life’s necessities and are rarely involved in land management and forestry, a gap ED seeks to close.
“Men can borrow money because they own land. We are mobilizing women to take charge by employing them as seed collectors. In the end, this brings women into active environmental conservation, including fighting mining in ecologically sensitive places.” — Sarah Lonyo, Senior Program Officer, Environmental Defenders
She adds that greater involvement of women in conservation would improve access to water for everyone, including marginalized people. Through Terra Cooperative, most members plant trees and are linked to markets to earn income and improve their livelihoods.
Lonyo concludes that ED aims to be a leading supplier of quality native tree species for global and African restoration commitments such as the Bonn Challenge, AFR100, and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, as well as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
Solar energy driving restoration
This work shows how solar energy can drive large-scale environmental restoration. By using solar technology to power the seed bank, Environmental Defenders is protecting native tree species from extinction while creating sustainable livelihoods and supporting community-led conservation. Its commitment to reversing deforestation, empowering women, and scaling up restoration through seed collection and nursery expansion offers a model for biodiversity conservation across the Albertine Rift and Congo Basin.
Looking ahead, plans to expand seed banks, mobilize women, and protect thousands of hectares of land will help meet global restoration targets. The work underscores the urgent need for more investment in seed banking and reforestation, so that future generations inherit a thriving and resilient natural world. Read about APAPE’s native seed bank on the Lendu Plateau.