'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

Biodiversity 'doomsday vault' comes to life in Arctic

By Pierre-Henry Deshayes | Posted Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:25am PST

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) - Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah's Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic "doomsday vault" filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be inaugurated here Tuesday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Matai will be among the personalities present at the inauguration of the vault, which has been carved into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, just some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole.

The vault, made up of three spacious cold chambers each measuring 27 x 10 metres (89 x 33 feet), create a long trident-shaped tunnel bored into the sandstone and limestone.

It has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds from all known varieties of the planet's main food crops, making it possible to re-establish plants if they disappear from their natural environment or are obliterated by major disasters.

"The facility is built to hold twice as many varieties of agricultural crops as we think exist," explained Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and project mastermind.

"It will not be filled up in my lifetime, nor in my grandchildren's lifetime," he predicted in a phone interview with AFP.

Norway has assumed the six million euro (8.9 million dollar) charge for building the vault in its Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, where ironically no crops grow.

Secured behind an airlock door, the three airtight chambers have the capacity to house duplicates of samples from all the world's more than 1,400 existing seed banks.

Many of the more vulnerable seed banks have begun contributing to the "doomsday vault" collection, but some of the world's biodiversity has already disappeared, with gene vaults in both Iraq and Afghanistan destroyed by war and a seed bank in the Philippines annihilated by a typhoon.

By the time of the inauguration on Tuesday, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault should hold some 250,000 samples, which will remain the property of their countries of origin.

Pakistan and Kenya, both undergoing periods of serious unrest, have sent seed collections, while samples sent from Colombia have been closely scrutinised by police to avoid the project becoming a vehicle for drug trafficking.

"I've been working in this field for 30 years and I thought I knew at least all the crops," Fowler said.

After receiving a list of all the different seeds in the vault, however, "I must admit there are a number of crops I've never heard of before," he said.

That's a spectacular amount of diversity for Svalbard, where no trees can grow due to the permafrost and where the mercury plummets to an average 14 degrees Celsius below zero (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in winter.

The Norwegian archipelago, which is home to some 2,300 people, was selected not despite but because of its inhospitable climate, as well as its remote location far from civil strife.

The seeds of wheat, maize, oats and other crops will be stored at a constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, and even if the freezer system fails the permafrost will ensure that temperatures never rise above 3.5 degrees Celsius below freezing.

"Svalbard really met all the criteria," Fowler said.


Protected by high walls of fortified concrete, an armoured door, a sensor alarm and the native polar bears that roam the region, the "doomsday vault" has been built 130 metres (425 feet) above current sea level -- high enough that it would not flood if the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melt entirely due to global warming.
The concrete cocoon has also been built to withstand nuclear missile attacks or a plunging plane, something that could come in handy in light of the 6.4-scale tremor -- the biggest earthquake in Norway's history -- registered near the archipelago on Thursday.

Copyright � 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse.


http://green.yahoo.com/news/afp/2008...mingcrops.html

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

QWAK,Now THAT shows planning for the FUTURE!:s9: Even a future with out PEOPLE!:thinkey:

Hard to even IMAGIN who or what may one day find the vault and most likely just another indication of our HUMAN EGOS, as NATURE does not need our help and will generate or evolve what ever life forms deemed aproprate including FOOD to feed them.:thinkey:

Kind of hard to get our heads areound the fact that HUMANS are realy just a FLASH in the PAN, geologicly speaking.

Here today and GONE tomarrow (some day) -- all that realy matters is how we relate for the short time we are here indivigualy and how we chose to deal with each other --- including all the other life forms that live here too.:knuddel: or :boxing: :shakehand or :fight: Ultimitly NO ONE will REMEMBER and will reguare US (if they find any traces) as PRIMITIVE life forms.:hahaha:

the DUCK

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

interesting timing for this.

even Noah didn't build his Ark before he knew it would be required

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

Preparation for the week: plot vault location on emergency map and buy a really big crowbar.

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

You know I have to use that line of Kevin Costner's in 'Open Range" where he says, "People will tell you their bad intentions if you just listen to them."

Here we have them telling us they are storing these seeds in case of a catastrophic event....

Whenever I bring up any GIM related topics with my wife and talk about prepping with metals/guns/ammo/food/gas masks, etc. she simply looks at
me and says, honey, they're just gonna drop a plague on us and that will
be that. I'm starting to believe she's right.

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

you figure if the doomsday vault is ever needed, property rights are going to be meaningless.

maybe because it's already filled up.

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

I wonder if there is a relation to this and the terminator-gene and/or killing of the bees?

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

Fifteen years after TEOTWAWKI, a small group of survivors braves the northern ocean to find the last repository of food seeds left. It was created in the early years of the 21st century to act as a "Doomsday Vault." The survirors only hoped the planners and builders had done the job they set out to do, as all other known seed repositories were destroyed or plundered when the SHTF. After tying up their small sailboat at the top of a fyord, they trek across the island to where they hope the repository still stands.

The survivors climb to the site of the repository. The concrete walls stand inpenetrable, the armored door still sealed. The survivors celebrate, the human race is saved. One man approaches the long sought doorway.

"Okay," he says, "how do we open it?"


I didn't read (in this article, or any other) who would keep the "key" to the place. Maybe they'll start a tribe of neo-Vikings to keep watch on the facility. Then, generations from now, it will have a religious significance, and only holy men are allowed into the sacred vault.

Another story and video is on the British Guardian.

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

I remember seeing this story posted on GIM about maybe a month and half ago... .... I looked at it with so-so eyes cause if sounded fishy especially the part where bill gates and other high brow folks have acess.( anybody got that link?) ....I thought is was a bogus ..but interesting at best.


click on aol and what do I see today??


The hair on the back of my neck stood up......I was like ..dam ..this is really happening and the best part is THEY TELL US WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO DO TO US!!........ there is going to be some type of catastrophic event and they (UN) will be lord and master over who lives and who dies.


Take it very serious people, make sure you buy your own heirloom seeds. It is not going to be pretty when this starts to play out on a global scale.


This is absolulety terrifying


T

Re: 'Doomsday vault' in Arctic
 

I forgot the link but they were selling the book, Seeds of Deception