The Azores Seed Bank has been selected by the Botanical Garden Conservation International (BGCI) as a case study on the conservation of rare seeds under the Global Seed Challenge. This structure is installed within Faial Botanical Garden and is under the administration of the Regional Directorate for the Environment.

The Global Seed Challenge is an international challenge launched by BGCI that will distinguish in July 2017 the botanical gardens that preserve the largest number of plants, the most endangered species, the most useful, the most difficult to harvest and the rarest species.

BGCI is the world's largest network of protected plants, with 3,262 botanical gardens spread across almost every country in the world. Currently, it is considered as the most important institution in the conservation of endangered plants.

The Azores Seed Bank, which aims to preserve the natural flora of the archipelago, has set as its main the conservation of 80% of the Region's flora, with special emphasis on the most rare and endangered species.

The conservation of seeds safeguards the replacement of these important species in the event of a catastrophe.

Following the development of a protocol for the harvesting and conservation of seeds adapted to the Azores, the regional seed bank currently stores a total of six million seeds from 45 endemic species of the archipelago, accounting for 60% of all endemic species of the Azores.