Guest guest Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Doomsday vault to avert world famine 12 January 2006 >From New Scientist Print Edition Fred Pearce WITHIN a large concrete room, hewn out of a mountain on a freezing-cold island just 1000 kilometres from the North Pole, could lie the future of humanity. The room is a " doomsday vault " designed to hold around 2 million seeds, representing all known varieties of the world's crops. It is being built to safeguard the world's food supply against nuclear war, climate change, terrorism, rising sea levels, earthquakes and the ensuing collapse of electricity supplies. " If the worst came to the worst, this would allow the world to reconstruct agriculture on this planet, " says Cary Fowler, director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, an independent international organisation promoting the project. New Scientist has learned that the Norwegian government is planning to create the seed bank next year at the behest of crop scientists. The $3 million vault will be built deep inside a sandstone mountain lined with permafrost on the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen. The vault will have metre-thick walls of reinforced concrete and will be protected behind two airlocks and high-security blast-proof doors. It will not be permanently manned, but " the mountains are patrolled by polar bears " , says Fowler. The vault's seed collection, made up of duplicates of those already held at other seed banks, will represent the products of some 10,000 years of plant breeding by the world's farmers. Though most are no longer widely planted, the varieties contain vital genetic traits still regularly used in plant breeding. To survive, the seeds need freezing temperatures. Operators plan to replace the air inside the vault each winter, when temperatures in Spitsbergen are around -18 °C. But even if some catastrophe meant that the vault was abandoned, the permafrost would keep the seeds viable. And even accelerated global warming would take many decades to penetrate the mountain vault. " This will be the world's most secure gene bank by some orders of magnitude, " says Fowler. " But its seeds will only be used when all other samples have gone for some reason. It is a fail-safe depository, rather than a conventional seed bank. " Norway first proposed the project in the 1980s but it was shelved because of security concerns: under an international treaty the Soviet Union had access to Spitsbergen at the time. With the end of the cold war and the signing of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, which gives legal protection to national crops, the door was open for the idea's revival. The project also comes at a time when there is growing concern about the safety of existing seed banks around the world. Many have been criticised for their poor security, ageing refrigeration systems and vulnerable electricity supplies. In the late 1980s, terrorists ransacked an international potato seed bank in the Peruvian Andes, while more recently anti-globalisation campaigners have demonstrated against other banks. The new Fort Knox for the world's crops will start by taking seeds from the network of seed banks run in the Philippines, Mexico, Syria, Nigeria and elsewhere by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, which is part-funded by the World Bank. " We will then add samples from elsewhere until we have a complete set of the world's crop varieties, " says Fowler. The scheme won UN approval at a meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome last October. A feasibility study said the facility " would essentially be built to last forever " . Related Articles Planet in peril: Fix the Earth to fight poverty http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624934.500 02 April 2005 Returning war-torn farmland to productivity http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18524831.000 22 January 2005 Seed banks receive vital cash boost http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2739 30 August 2002 Weblinks Global Crop Diversity Trust http://www.startwithaseed.org/items/homepage.php International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources http://www.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/itpgr.htm Consultative Group On International Agricultural Research http://www.cgiar.org/ Being a pacifist between wars is as easy as being a vegetarian between meals. " --Ammon Hennacy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 16, 2006 Report Share Posted January 16, 2006 Hmmm... isn't there a biblical variation to this story? Only he saved the grain in advance for famine...fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote: Doomsday vault to avert world famine12 January 2006>From New Scientist Print EditionFred PearceWITHIN a large concrete room, hewn out of a mountain on a freezing-coldisland just 1000 kilometres from the North Pole, could lie the futureof humanity.The room is a "doomsday vault" designed to hold around 2 million seeds,representing all known varieties of the world's crops. It is beingbuilt to safeguard the world's food supply against nuclear war, climatechange, terrorism, rising sea levels, earthquakes and the ensuingcollapse of electricity supplies. "If the worst came to the worst, thiswould allow the world to reconstruct agriculture on this planet," saysCary Fowler, director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, anindependent international organisation promoting the project.New Scientist has learned that the Norwegian government is planning tocreate the seed bank next year at the behest of crop scientists. The $3million vault will be built deep inside a sandstone mountain lined withpermafrost on the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen. The vaultwill have metre-thick walls of reinforced concrete and will beprotected behind two airlocks and high-security blast-proof doors. Itwill not be permanently manned, but "the mountains are patrolled bypolar bears", says Fowler.The vault's seed collection, made up of duplicates of those alreadyheld at other seed banks, will represent the products of some 10,000years of plant breeding by the world's farmers. Though most are nolonger widely planted, the varieties contain vital genetic traits stillregularly used in plant breeding.To survive, the seeds need freezing temperatures. Operators plan toreplace the air inside the vault each winter, when temperatures inSpitsbergen are around -18 °C. But even if some catastrophe meant thatthe vault was abandoned, the permafrost would keep the seeds viable.And even accelerated global warming would take many decades topenetrate the mountain vault."This will be the world's most secure gene bank by some orders ofmagnitude," says Fowler. "But its seeds will only be used when allother samples have gone for some reason. It is a fail-safe depository,rather than a conventional seed bank."Norway first proposed the project in the 1980s but it was shelvedbecause of security concerns: under an international treaty the SovietUnion had access to Spitsbergen at the time. With the end of the coldwar and the signing of the International Treaty on Plant GeneticResources, which gives legal protection to national crops, the door wasopen for the idea's revival.The project also comes at a time when there is growing concern aboutthe safety of existing seed banks around the world. Many have beencriticised for their poor security, ageing refrigeration systems andvulnerable electricity supplies. In the late 1980s, terroristsransacked an international potato seed bank in the Peruvian Andes,while more recently anti-globalisation campaigners have demonstratedagainst other banks.The new Fort Knox for the world's crops will start by taking seeds fromthe network of seed banks run in the Philippines, Mexico, Syria,Nigeria and elsewhere by the Consultative Group on InternationalAgricultural Research, which is part-funded by the World Bank. "We willthen add samples from elsewhere until we have a complete set of theworld's crop varieties," says Fowler.The scheme won UN approval at a meeting of the Food and AgricultureOrganization in Rome last October. A feasibility study said thefacility "would essentially be built to last forever".Related ArticlesPlanet in peril: Fix the Earth to fight povertyhttp://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624934.50002 April 2005Returning war-torn farmland to productivityhttp://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18524831.00022 January 2005Seed banks receive vital cash boosthttp://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn273930 August 2002WeblinksGlobal Crop Diversity Trusthttp://www.startwithaseed.org/items/homepage.phpInternational Treaty on Plant Genetic Resourceshttp://www.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/itpgr.htmConsultative Group On International Agricultural Researchhttp://www.cgiar.org/Being a pacifist between wars is as easy as being a vegetarian between meals." --Ammon Hennacy Photos – Showcase holiday pictures in hardcover Photo Books. You design it and we’ll bind it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.