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Weatherman | 05-31-2007 07:38 AM
A Noah's Ark for seeds! 1 Attachment(s) This sounds like someone is doing something right for a change! :clap2: Quote:
In the Event of Global Disaster, the Ultimate Crop Backup System Lucas Graves http://www.wired.com/images/icon_email.gif05.22.07 | 2:00 AM <!-- only display photo on first page --><!-- start article photo -->Spotted owls and humpback whales grab headlines, but plant life is under siege as well � even fruits and vegetables that humans have been growing for millennia are dying out. One study of more than 8,000 crop varieties grown in the US in 1903 found that only 600 remained by 1983. The solution? A Noah's ark for seeds. Last February, the Norwegian government unveiled plans for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a fortress for up to 3 million seed varieties on a remote island 600 miles from the North Pole. The project is the first comprehensive effort to protect the world's agricultural gene pool. Some 1,400 seed repositories throughout the world safeguard roughly 1.5 million varieties against crop failure and serve researchers hoping to breed desired traits. But these collections are fragmentary and loosely organized. Many are vulnerable to threats like floods, civil strife, and simple mismanagement. The Svalbard facility will be a backup to the backups, preserving the DNA of every crop on the planet along with wild relatives. Once the doors open, seeds will be released only if every other source has been depleted or destroyed. "This is an insurance policy for the world's most valuable natural resource," says Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which is spearheading the project. The vault should be finished by October at a cost of roughly $6 million. The Norwegian government is funding construction, and Fowler's group has pledged to pay operational costs and help develop standards to link up existing agricultural databases. "This vault is not a time capsule," Fowler says. "It's a living institution." And while it lives, so will the crops that mankind relies on to survive.
Attachment 29085 Quote:
The Svalbard Seed Vault<TABLE class=pl_test cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=630 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=115>Entrance A | To maintain security, motion sensors and a webcam monitor the door. The control tower at the local airport has a direct view of the site, which is kept well lit during the dark winter months. </TD><TD width=13></TD><TD vAlign=top width=115>Tunnel B | A tunnel extends 400 feet into the mountain. It leads past an office and utility room before ending at two airlocked chambers. A steel sheath reinforces a portion where the rock is especially prone to fragmentation. </TD><TD width=13></TD><TD vAlign=top width=115>Storage C | A third of a mile of shelving fills each vault. Above, vents cool the air to 0 degrees Fahrenheit, which will keep some of the seeds viable for centuries. Fresh seeds will be added periodically. </TD><TD width=13></TD><TD vAlign=top width=115>Boxes D | Seed envelopes are housed in corrugated plastic boxes. Serial numbers link the envelopes to academic databases of information about the seeds' genetic lineage, varietal traits, and other husbandry details. </TD><TD width=13></TD><TD vAlign=top width=115>Envelopes E | Each envelope holds a 500-seed sample. Adapted from the pharmaceutical industry, a five-layer composite of mylar, plastic, and foil keeps out air and moisture and resists punctures. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://www.wired.com/science/planete...06/ff_seedbank

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