Agricultural Noah's Ark: Doomsday Seed Vault In Arctic

[RestoreGore]

This is an absolutely visionary concept... as long as these seeds can be planted should our global water supply not be almost totally gone and they remain invulnerable to terrorist attack. Imagine the scenario should these seeds actually be needed to feed the world, and terrorist organizations and governments begin fighting each other to gain control of them to rule the world because at that point having these seeds will be tantanmount to controlling the collective fate of all humans. It sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but it is reality now.
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070209074207.htm

Source: Global Crop Diversity Trust
Date: February 9, 2007
More on: Global Warming, Climate, Seeds, Agriculture and Food, Environmental Issues, Endangered Plants

Agricultural Noah's Ark: Doomsday Seed Vault In Arctic To Outlast Major Sea Level Rise And Permafrost Warming

Science Daily — The Norwegian government has revealed the architectural design for the Svalbard International Seed Vault, to be carved deep into frozen rock on an island not far from the North Pole. The entrance to the "fail-safe" seed vault will "gleam like a gem in the midnight sun," signaling a priceless treasure within: seed samples of nearly every food crop of every country. The vault is designed to protect the agricultural heritage of humankind -- the seeds essential to agriculture of every nation.


"This design takes us one step closer to guaranteeing the safety of the world's most important natural resource," said Dr. Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which will co-fund the vault's operations and pay for the preparation and transport of seeds from all developing nations to the Arctic island of Svalbard. "Every day that passes we lose crop biodiversity. We must conserve the seeds that will allow agriculture to adapt to challenges such as climate change and crop disease. This design is as awesome physically as it is attractive aesthetically, and both are fitting tributes to the importance of the biological treasure to be stored there."

Construction is slated to begin in March 2007 and to be completed in September 2007. The vault will officially open in late winter 2008.
"By investing in a global permafrost safety facility for seeds, the Norwegian Government hopes to contribute to combating the loss of biological diversity, to reduce our vulnerability to climatic changes, and to enhance our ability to secure future food production," said Mr. Terje Riis-Johansen, Minister of Agriculture and Food, Norway.

The site was chosen, in part, because the ground is perpetually frozen, providing natural back-up refrigeration that would preserve the seeds should electricity fail. Yet, even here, project architects had to consider how to offset the potential impacts of climate change.

The design will accommodate even worst-case scenarios of global warming in two main ways. For one, the vault will be located high above any possible rise in sea level caused by global warming: the vault will be located some 130 metres above current sea level, ensuring that it will not be flooded. This puts it well above a seven metre rise that would accompany the melting of Greenland's ice sheet, or even a 61 metre rise that could accompany an unlikely total meltdown of Antarctica.

Secondly, scientists determined the impact of rising air temperatures on the permafrost, which is normally between -4°C and -6°C (24.8°F and 21.2°F). They found that the permafrost would warm much more slowly than the air. In addition, the deeper into the mountain, the colder it will remain. Therefore, the vault will be located an extraordinary 120 metres into the rock, ensuring that rising external air temperatures will have no influence on the surrounding permafrost.

end of excerpt

The Global Crop Diversity Trust

The mission of the Trust is to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide. Although crop diversity is fundamental to fighting hunger and to the very future of agriculture, funding is unreliable and diversity is being lost. The Trust is the only organization working worldwide to solve this problem. The Trust is finalizing an agreement with the Royal Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Norway and the Nordic Gene Bank to provide for the long-term funding, management and operation of the vault.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by Global Crop Diversity Trust.

[krispos42]

1. The Mote in God's Eye

A novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, had a concept similar to this.

In the distant future, the Empire of Man finally finds intelligent extraterrestrial life. For techincal reasons, the ETs (called 'Moties') are unable to access the same faster-than-light technology that humans have while having a biological drive to reproduce that cannot be overridden. As a result are locked into an endlessly-repeating cycle of the rise and fall of global civilization as wars break out for cropland and other resources.

On the Motie's planet exist numerous heavily armored buildings scattered around. Inside the buildings (vaults, really) are the combined history and technological progress of the race, including historical displays, timelines, etc. Examples of different levels of technology, from simple mechanical devices to electricity and electronics. Knowledge galore, basically.

All of this is behind thick doors with massive, unpickable combination locks. The only way to open these locks is by having astronomical knowledge of the planet's solar system.

This lock is intended to keep the primitive survivors of a global struggle for food, knocked back into the bronze or stone age, from accessing the knowledge without some science, math, and education.

This is the first thing this story reminded me of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye

[scarletwoman]

3. Thanks for the reference. I read that novel when it first came out -- too long ago to recall

the details. (Plus, I'm OLD...) All I remembered of the story was how wonderful and mind-blowing it was, and it was one of my favorite books back when I went through my heavy science fiction period in the 70s.

Lost my copy years ago, maybe I'll have to find a new one. It would be really interesting to re-read it 33 years later. (Stand On Zanzibar is another one I'd like to get my hands on again...)

sw

[krispos42]

5. He he he! It makes me want to go and buy it to read it again!

I read it in 1995 or so, and could not put it down!

[RestoreGore]

9. Wow, putting that on my reading list

Eerie.

[scarletwoman]

2. Wow! That is so totally cool! What a wonderful idea! Yay, Norwegians!

(being of Norwegian ancestry myself, I am prejudiced of course)

Seriously, I'm very glad someone has thought to do this and glad that the Norwegian government is making it happen. Goes to show what kind of funding priorities a nation can focus on when they're not bent on global military conquest.

So, thank you, RestoreGore, for posting this article. I wouldn't have known about this otherwise.

To be honest, I find it a bit disturbing that your own reaction to this article brought up fears of terrorism, and I wish that I hadn't read your comment before I read the excerpts you posted.

My own reaction is to feel a sense of hopefulness for the future. That perhaps on the other side of global calamity and dark days for humanity, those who survive will have this much greater a chance of rebuilding a cooperative, life-sustaining new human culture on the planet.

sw

[RestoreGore]

6. Well, it does give me hope

But the scenario I described was realistic to me in regards to human nature. Hopefully, it won't get that far.

[scarletwoman]

7. Just remember, those who are cruel and murderous and thieving are the minority.

Think about it. The vast majority of human beings on this planet just want to live in peace, raise their children and not have to worry over much about feeding themselves and keeping warm.

Altruism, empathy, and forming social bonds are at least as much "human nature" as violence and greed. And, if measured by the proportion of humans who exhibit the former over the latter, I would say that the latter are aberrations that could eventually be done away with.

My hope, anyway...

sw

[RestoreGore]

8. I agree..

Only it appears that the majority seems to believe it doesn't have the power which is why it continues to cede more of it to the minority who does have control over the apparatus of our freedoms. Perhaps that myth needs to be dispelled before we will have real freedom and control of our collective fate. I agree that there are more of us than them but as such, it sure doesn't reflect in the current state of this world, hence what I believe to be the main reason why this world is so out of balance.

[pitohui]

4. it's pointless

a seed trust does not, can not restore an entire ecosystem -- a living ecosystem can't be replaced by planting some seeds, how do they propose to freeze the pollinators for example? the
insects, birds, and mammals needed to stock the ecosystem cant be stored on ice, you will be creating a world where every plant is grown painfully as a result of human tending

it just won't work to replace reality although we can eke out a miserable and unhealthy existence eating some miserable products of monocultures i suppose

also the fruits and nuts will be lost -- they are reproduced by clones/grafts, not by seed


the peoples who need a low carb diet, such as many native american groups, will just get to die out too i suppose

but who wants to be fed anyway just to go on living in hell?

this is one of those things that just seems silly and pointless on the face of it, if anything, it's a bad idea if it gives even one powerful nut hope that there can be life again for "their" kind after they've sterilized the planet of the rest of us

[sendero]

10. I hate to join in on your pessimism..

.... but seeds also do not last forever, even frozen. Many seeds will expire if not planted in just a few years.

This is an important symbolic gesture, but it is not a practical one.