SECRET VAULT BURIED IN ARCTIC ICE
MAY ONE DAY SAVE THE WORLD
The “Doomsday Vault” sounds like a plot device from a bad Hollywood movie: a secret bunker hidden deep beneath a remote mountain, designed to save mankind from Armageddon…
only this vault is real, and it goes into operation on February 26.
Meet the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, named after the archipelago in Norway where it is located. The vault is hidden in a mountain deep in the Arctic permafrost near the village of Longyearbyen, built by the government of Norway and funded by Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust for the benefit of all mankind.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault’s purpose is ensuring that the genetic diversity of the world’s food crops is preserved for future generations. The vault is designed to store duplicates of seeds from seed collections from around the world, bolstering global food security in case of natural or manmade catastrophe. More than 200,000 crop varieties will be represented. The first seed collection will go into the vault on February 26, with regular contributions until the vault contains seeds of most of the world’s crops.
The seeds at Svalbard Global Seed Vault will be stored at –18 degrees Celsius in specially designed, five-ply aluminum foil packages inside sealed boxes stored on high shelves inside the vault. The low temperature and limited access to oxygen will ensure low metabolic activity and delay aging.
The loss of biological diversity is currently one of the greatest challenges facing the environment. Biodiversity is critical in building crop resistance to pests and diseases, and enabling cultivation in harsh conditions like drought, salinity and flooding - all of which will likely increase with global climate change, particularly in poor countries.
Shoutout to the government of Norway and Global Crop Diversity Trust for building the world's largest seed library, and to all countries participating in this global venture by donating local crop seeds. Dr. Strangelove would approve.
Sources, resources, and discourses:
1. IRIN – article
2. Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food - webpage
Bangalore, India has turned a city park into a “bird conservation spot” to increase the city’s bird numbers.
Artificial nests have been built in trees, sand bathing areas and artificial ponds have been built, and grain has been put out to entice birds back into the city. More than 200 varieties of birds have disappeared from the city, as the city has been converted into a concrete jungle with increasing air and noise pollution.
