Svalbard Global Seed Vault is being established on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near the town of Longyearbyen (population 1900) in the remote arctic Svalbard archipelago. The island is about 1120 km from the north pole.
The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement between the Norwegian government, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Nordic Gene Bank (a cooperative effort of the Nordic countries under the Nordic Council of Ministers). The Norwegian government has funded all of the approximately $8 million construction cost. The Global Crop Diversity Trust has played a key role in the planning of the Seed Vault and is coordinating shipments of seed samples to the Vault in conjunction with the Nordic Gene Bank. The Trust will provide most of the annual operating costs for the facility, and has set aside endowment funds to do so, while the Norwegian government will finance upkeep of the structure itself. The Gates Foundation has provided approximately $750,000 to assist developing countries and international agricultural research centers to package and ship seeds to the Seed Vault. An International Advisory Council is being established to provide guidance and advice. It will include representatives from FAO, the CGIAR, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and other institutions.
The prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland participated in a ceremonial "laying of the first stone" on 19 June 2006.
The seedbank is being constructed 393 feet inside a sandstone mountain at Svalbard on Spitsbergen Island.[2] The bank will employ a number of robust security systems. Seeds will be packaged in special 4-ply packets and heat sealed to exclude moisture. The facility will be managed by the Nordic Gene Bank, though there will be no permanent staff on-site. Spitsbergen was considered ideal due to its lack of tectonic activity and its permafrost, which will aid preservation. The location 426 feet above sea level will ensure that the site remains dry even if the icecaps melt.Locally mined coal will provide power for refrigeration units which will further cool the seeds to the internationally-recommended standard −20 to −30 C. Even if the equipment fails, at least several weeks will elapse before the temperature rises to the −3 C of the surrounding sandstone bedrock. Prior to construction, a feasibility study determined that the vault could preserve seeds from most major food crops for hundreds of years. Some seeds, including those of important grains, could survive far longer, possibly thousands of years.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault will open officially on 26 February 2008. Approximately 1.5 million distinct seed samples of agricultural crops are thought to exist. The variety and volume of seeds stored will depend on the number of countries participating. But the facility has a capacity to conserve 4.5 million. The first seeds arrived in January 2008.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault's mission is to provide a safety net against accident loss of diversity in traditional genebanks. While the popular press has emphasized its possible utility in the event of a major regional or global catastrophe, it will certainly be more frequently accessed when genebanks lose samples due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts and natural disasters. Such events occur with some regularity. In recent years, some national genebanks have also been destroyed by war and civil strife. There are some 1400 crop diversity collections around the world, but many are in politically unstable or environmentally threatened nations.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
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