More than 100 universities have been damaged or destroyed, according to Mohamed Hassan, president of the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences, and the country’s scientific and academic infrastructure has been largely shut down as scientists have been forced to flee. The escalating violence is also threatening an irreplaceable scientific resource: the country’s seed bank has been ransacked, putting at risk more than 15,000 samples of the region’s plant life.

Carefully preserved in aluminum packets inside moisture-controlled deep freezers, the seeds held in the gene bank provide a backup of the region’s unique and diverse native plants – among them the likely ancestor of the watermelon, as well as varieties of sorghum, one of the most widely planted cereal crops.

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In 2023, the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences called for solidarity from scientists around the world to help their colleagues at risk. The [International Science Couincil] has expressed deep concern over the “abhorrent impacts” of the conflict on civilians and its catastrophic effect on the country’s science system.

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