A NOAH'S ARK FOR SEEDS

SVALVARD GLOBAL SEED VAULT


































When I was asked to join the green team I started thinking of all the interesting environmentally linked projects I had come across lately. Something I couldn't get off my head was reading about The Svalvard Global Seed Vault on Kitsune Noir.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault officially opened late February 2008. It is in the mountains of Svalbard, a small island in Norway 700 miles from the North Pole. It is designed to store duplicates of seeds from seed collections from around the globe. If seeds are lost as a result of natural disasters, war or simply a lack of resources, the seed collections may be reestablished using seeds from Svalbard. This is why it is refered to as "a Noah's arc for seeds".

The Seed Vault is at about 130 metres above sea level and consists entirely of an underground facility at about minus 3-4 degrees Celsius with three separate underground chambers. Each chamber has the capacity to store 1,5 million different seed samples. The seed vault was designed to have an almost “endless” lifetime. Its location takes climate change into account and effects such as rising sea levels, changing temperature or temporary power loss. This location is also unlikely to be affected by war and civil unrest.

The building's architectural design is also incredibly beautiful and unobtrusive.

From a scientific and conservationist perspective, this is an extraordinary and necessary project for our species and for our planet to preserve and archive its genetic pool. We should however do our best to avoid the extintion of crops due to carelessness towards the environment. Of course it is not as simple when it comes to preventing the effects of war, civil and political unrest, but for those of us who are lucky enough not to be in those situations, we can still have a hand in avoiding climate change and all the repercussions which could potentially lead to the extinction of many species.

rosie*

sources:
Svalvard Global Seed Vault
Kitsune Noir
Wikipedia : Svalvard Global Seed Vault