The conservation of biodiversity, whether wild or cultivated, is crucial in this context of global climate change. Biological Resource Centers (BRC) are dedicated to the preservation, characterization, and distribution of biological samples representative of this biodiversity. The BRC Vatel, located in Reunion Island and managed by CIRAD, has the mission of safeguarding and promoting access to the diversity of plant varieties traditionally cultivated in Reunion Island. Five collections are maintained: Vanilla, tropical garlic, root and tuber vegetables, seed vegetables, and maize. The CRB Vatel has been ISO 9001 certified since 2021. The vanilla collection includes accessions of the three cultivated species (Vanilla planifolia, V. pompona and V. × tahitensis) as well as 25 wild relatives and interspecific hybrids. Vanilla genetic resources are preserved as vines in shadehouses, on field plots, or as in vitro in the Plant Protection Platform facilities. Over the past ten years, BRC Vatel has provided vanilla material to one hundred clients in fourteen countries. It has contributed to major work on the genetic diversity and evolution of cultivated and wild vanillas, on the mechanisms of biosynthesis and storage of aromatic compounds in the fruit, and on resistance to fusariosis. The BRC Vatel is involved in the VaniSeq consortium Research project which aims to decipher the complex genome of V. planifolia, and is also running breeding programs to produce new vanilla varieties.