“There are big and small doomsdays going on around the world every day.” - says Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, officially known as the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which plays a key role in the management of the vault. Mostly dubbed the “doomsday” vault and Food Ark, these nick names might conjures up an image of a reserve of seeds for use in case of an apocalyptic event or a global catastrophe in a distant future, but the vault was also and mainly designed to protect against much smaller, localized destruction and threats facing gene banks, such as losses caused by mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, or funding cuts. It preserves a wide variety of plant seeds that are duplicate samples, or "spare" copies, of seeds held in traditional gene banks and storehouses of agricultural biodiversity, and serves as a back up, safety net and refuge against accidental loss of diversity in case of crises. Opened in 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is essentially a huge safety deposit box. Woefully underfunded, many banks don't have the means to properly store or protect the seeds they hold. And a lack of resources is probably the biggest threat. Some have been hit by natural disasters, like the Philippine national gene bank, which was damaged by flooding from a typhoon and later by a fire. It is not just armed conflict that threatens gene banks. Gene banks in Afghanistan and Iraq have been destroyed, for example, while the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), a global agricultural-research organization that had been based in Syria, was recently also forced to flee its headquarters, just outside of Aleppo, because of the civil war, leaving behind one of the world’s most valuable seed collections, with some of the oldest varieties of wheat and barley. Yet many are located in politically or environmentally unstable countries. No one could've imagined that humanity would be relying on the Svalbard seed vault so early after its inception, but it's certainly reassuring that the system works as it's intended to.There are as many as 1750 ‘crop diversity’ collections all over the world, a global network that not only preserves, but also shares seeds to further agricultural research and develop new varieties. Once the crops have sprouted seeds again, they'll send some back to Svalbard for safekeeping. During the re-growing process, researchers will be looking into ways to make crops more resistant to things like extreme heat, drought, cold, and pests so they're more capable of adapting to climate change, reported CNN. Right now, the crops can't be regrown in Syria while the war is ongoing, so they're being grown in Morocco and Lebanon instead. Losing crops like these could spell disaster for the future of food security. All it would take is a power outage and the cooling system for the seeds would be compromised. It also holds seeds for some of the oldest crops in the world, like ancient varieties of wheat and durum.Īccording to Wired, it wouldn't even take something a dramatic as a bombing for the seeds to be at risk. The gene bank in Aleppo holds seeds for lentils, chickpeas and the world's most valuable barley collection. RELATED: A Rare Look Inside The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault The seeds are safe, but the land around the gene bank can not be used, so they can't duplicate seeds, they can't share seeds with farmers and breeders and scientists," Haga told Seeker. Due to the war situation, the gene bank can not operate as it should. "One of the most important gene banks in the world is in Aleppo, Syria. Last year, Svalbard was put to the test when Aleppo, Syria needed to make an emergency withdrawal of seeds. The gene bank in the Philippines was struck by the tsunami, and then it caught fire," she said, adding that's "why it is important to have a backup system." "We have lost gene banks in Iraq, we have lost gene banks in Afghanistan. She told Seeker that she's already seen gene banks destroyed in several countries. Marie Haga is the executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the organization that manages Svalbard. RELATED: Svalbard's Role In The Syrian Civil War Gene banks all over the world preserve genetic material from crops and then give some of the seeds to Svalbard in case their own reserves are destroyed during natural disaster or war. The temperature is kept at a consistent -18 degrees Celsius (-0.4 Fahrenheit) to ensure the seeds will be preserved for thousands of years if necessary. The seed vault is set underground, 120 meters (394 feet) inside a mountain. Housed in the Norwegian-sovereign islands since 2008, halfway between Norway and the North Pole, Svalbard can hold up to 2.25 billion seeds from 4.5 million crop varieties.īasically, it's our insurance plan for the world's food supply. The Svalbard seed vault has been referred to as the "doomsday vault" for good reason.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |