TASS DOSSIER. 10 years ago, on February 26, 2008, on the island of Western Spitsbergen near the city of Longyearbyen (Norway) Grand opening World Seed Vault.
The goal of the project is to preserve the seed material of all agricultural plants existing in the world in case of natural or man-made disasters.
Story
The world's first seed bank, a special fund for storing seeds, was created at the suggestion of the Soviet plant breeder Pyotr Lisitsyn: he managed to interest the head of Soviet state Vladimir Lenin. He signed the corresponding decree “On seed production” on June 13, 1921. In accordance with the decree, the State Variety Fund was created. In the 1920s the fund developed as state reserve in case of shortage of seed material. However, already in the 1930s, at the All-Union (now All-Russian) Institute of Plant Growing, under the leadership of Academician Nikolai Vavilov, a collection of seeds for breeding began to form, which included samples collected by the scientist in different countries peace. This seed bank survived the siege of Leningrad in 1941-1944 and the death of Vavilov himself in the camp in 1943.
After World War II, similar projects were launched in other countries around the world. In 1979, the Scandinavian countries created a common seed bank - Nordic GeneBank. In 1984, one of the abandoned mines in Spitsbergen was chosen for its storage.
In 1989, consultations began between the Norwegian government, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Council genetic diversity plants on the creation of an international repository based on GeneBank. However, the project could not be implemented then due to disagreements about the principles of its financing. They returned to this idea again in 2004. This time, the Norwegian authorities decided to fully pay for the construction and operation of the complex.
Work on the construction of the World Seed Vault began on June 19, 2006. In January 2008, seeds from GeneBank were transferred to it. The official opening took place on February 26 of the same year in the presence of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (now NATO Secretary General), European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and FAO Secretary General Jacques Diouf.
Construction of a new tunnel to the storage facility is currently underway as the original entrance due to global warming and melting permafrost began to flood with groundwater.
Characteristics
The storage facility is located in an abandoned coal mine at a depth of 120 m underground and at an altitude of 130 m above sea level, which guarantees its survival from a direct hit from a nuclear bomb or from rising sea levels as a result of global warming. The storage facility is located in the permafrost zone (distance to North Pole- 1309 km), the temperature inside is naturally maintained at minus 3.5 degrees Celsius; it is artificially cooled to minus 18 degrees, which is optimal for storing seeds. In addition, there are no earthquakes in Svalbard.
Seeds are stored in sealed multi-layer envelopes folded into containers.
The total area of the storage facility is about 1 thousand square meters. A horizontal tunnel leads into it, the entrance to which is decorated with an installation by the Norwegian sculpture Daiveki Sann.
The cost of the project was $9 million. In 2016, the costs of operating the storage facility were estimated at $240 thousand, the bulk of these funds were received from various international organizations, including the Global Crop Diversity Fund. In turn, among its main sponsors is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Storage
In February 2018, the number of seeds contained in the storage facility reached 983 thousand (total capacity 4.5 million). According to the principles of the project, the largest national or supranational agricultural institutes in the world send reserve seed material to it: currently 73 organizations use its services. They own all rights to the stored material. At the same time, the Norwegian government assumes all costs for storing samples and transporting them to Svalbard (sending to Oslo airport is carried out at the expense of the organizers-depositors themselves).
All-Russian Institute of Plant Growing named after. N.I. Vavilova sent 5 thousand 278 seeds to the World Repository (as of the end of 2016). At the same time, the most seed material (more than 100 thousand units) was received from the International Center for Improvement of Corn and Wheat (CIMMYT, Mexico), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI, Philippines) and the International Scientific research institute on the study of crops in semi-arid tropical zones (ICRISAT, India).
Owners of seeds can request them back. The first time envelopes from the Global Repository had to be opened occurred in 2012 at the request of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Zones (ICARDA). Until 2012, it was based in Aleppo, however, due to the outbreak civil war in Syria, it was decided to urgently relocate him to Beirut (Libya). At the same time, some of the seeds could not be evacuated - the shortage had to be replenished from Spitsbergen.
World Seed Vault in Svalbard ( Svalbard Global Seed Vault)
A storage facility containing seed samples of major crops.
World Bank of Planting Materials.
I recently saw a movie where a group was looking for genetically non-modified peas. I searched in different countries. Found with with great difficulty. I don't remember where. Somewhere in the mountains. IN Central Asia.
And then they took the seeds to this very seed storage.
The vault currently contains seeds from about 250 thousand plant species. Fully filled, it will hold almost 20 times as many seeds - about four and a half million. The specimens stored on Svalbard are sufficient to restore a particular species in the event of its complete extinction.
The collection and maintenance of the seed collection was organized by the independent international foundation Crop Diversity Trust. Construction of a "storage" doomsday"Norway took over. The project cost it $9.6 million. The total amount was more than three times higher than originally planned.
The storage facility is located at an altitude of 130 meters above sea level, which eliminates the possibility of its flooding during melting arctic ice and the ice of Greenland. Its walls are strong enough to withstand a hit nuclear warheads.
Seed samples are stored in three large rooms measuring 27 by 10 meters. A long corridor leads to the rooms from the surface of the archipelago, which is protected from possible earthquakes special sleeve. Between the corridor and the storage itself there is a vestibule with a door system that ensures tightness.
The storage facility maintains a constant temperature of about minus 18 degrees Celsius. If the refrigeration units fail, the temperature in the storage facility will not rise above 3.5 degrees below zero, since the Svalbard archipelago is located only 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole, and its permafrost layer extends to a depth of 200 meters.
Svalbard was chosen for the seed bank due to the permafrost and low tectonic activity in the archipelago area.
Photo: Mari Tefre/Svalbard Globale Seed Vault
On February 26, 2008, on the Arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen (Norwegian Svalbard, located under the sovereignty of Norway), the Global Bank was opened - a seed storage facility for planting material, the so-called “Doomsday Vault”. His official name— Svalbard (English: Svalbard International Seed Vault, Norwegian: Svalbard Globale frøhvelv).
The idea of creating a global repository of seed duplicates on Svalbard arose in the 1980s, but due to the lack of international legal framework for its implementation, was not put into practice. Only after the entry into force in 2004 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture Agriculture a legislative basis for its implementation has appeared.
In October 2004, the Norwegian government committed to funding and establishing a global seed vault.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
CorrespondentRFIand our good friend Gelia Pevzner visited there recently. I remember her enthusiastic comments on Facebook about this trip. And today - a detailed report.
The bank project on the Svalbard archipelago, carried out by Norway under the auspices of the UN and costing $9 million, operates under the control of three organizations. This is the Norwegian government through the local administration of the Svalbard archipelago (Statsbük), the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Nordic Seed Bank (NordGen).
860,000 types of seeds are obtained from more than 60 different organizations, national or international (there are 11 such international banks in the world, and most have already sent the seeds to storage). The banks collect and store seeds from all over the world, with spare samples sent to Svalbard. Here they are stored in sealed bags at a temperature of -18°C. And even if refrigeration units supporting constant temperature, fail, it will take at least several weeks before the temperature rises by just three degrees. During this time, the seeds sleeping in the boxes can be saved.
The Svalbard archipelago and its part, the island of Spitsbergen, were chosen as the site of the World Seed Vault also because it is a seismically quiet zone and, according to the Spitsbergen Treaty, signed in 1920, a demilitarized territory. Perhaps the most peaceful place on Earth.
Twice a year the Warehouse opens its doors to receive new arrivals. Only on these days are a few journalists and researchers allowed to enter. The storage facility does not accept private tourists: unnecessary visits are too much big risk for seeds. On October 18, the seeds were brought to Spitsbergen International Center for Rice Research IRRI (Philippines), IITA (Institute of Tropical Agronomy, Nigeria), CIP (International Potato Center, Kenya), CGN (Centre for Genetic Resources, Netherlands) and ICRISAT ( International Institute agriculture of desert and semi-desert zones, India).
On a building embedded in the mountains of Longyearbyen, a green beacon is constantly burning in the polar night. From here, from above, both the ocean and the only airport in Spitsbergen are clearly visible. The plane bringing the seeds lands. Half an hour later, the car with the boxes begins to slowly climb towards the storage facility along an icy mountain road.
The door, behind which few people have been able to visit, is opened by a representative of the Trust. Behind it is a long corridor and an airlock chamber separating the entrance from the main premises. There are hooks with miners' helmets on the wall - without them, entry into the vault is prohibited; the vaults are covered with ice. Another door - and finally storage. The first thing that catches your eye is a thermometer frozen at the “-18” point, everything else is similar to any archive in the world: metal shelves, containers on them - plastic and cardboard, but they do not contain documents, but seed samples in bags. In the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty, the princess and her courtiers, cooks and maids fell asleep in a hundred-year sleep. Here sleep ancient wheat and barley, all 5000 varieties of potatoes, future rice fields and olive groves.
There are three such rooms in the storage facility. One of them is almost full, there are 860,000 types of seeds, and there is enough space for 3-4 million. That is, theoretically, a seed bank on Svalbard could store everything existing species agricultural plants.
Lack of oxygen slows down the metabolic activity and aging of seeds; some of them can be stored for 50-100 years without loss of quality, some for a thousand years, and some even longer.
Along the rows we go to trip around the world: China, Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Peru... The trust employee accompanying us draws our attention to containers that arrived from Russia, and next to them are exactly the same boxes from Ukraine (“We have here eternal peace!"). The two Koreas are also neighbors. Several boxes say ICARDA, these are seeds from Syria. Unlike Palmyra, they were saved from the Islamic State.
Syria - Norway - Syria
A storage facility containing the seeds of thousands of human-cultivated plants was destroyed when the city of Aleppo and the surrounding area entered the zone controlled by a terrorist organization. Syria, part of the Fertile Crescent, is home to wheat, barley, legumes, olive and almond trees. ICARDA stores seeds of ancient varieties mentioned in the Bible. The head of the institute's genetic resources department, Doctor of Sciences Ahmed Amri, said that the seeds rescued from Aleppo were sent to Spitsbergen for two-hundred-year storage. About 20 percent of the 120,000 to 130,000 different varieties of barley, wheat, corn or chickpeas were then transported to Morocco and Lebanon at the Trust's expense so that scientists could continue to plant them.
In Svalbard we met with the Global Fund's CFO, Mikael Koch. He explained why the seeds need to be planted and clarified issues regarding ownership of the specimens stored in the Svalbard bank.
Mikael Koch: The owner of each sample is the organization from which it was received. This is the same as if you go to a bank and rent a safe deposit box there. The key is yours, and you remain the owner of what is there and can take it away at any time; no one has the right to do this without your permission. The same principle applies here.
- Why store copies here in Svalbard if there are local seed banks in the world?
The seeds are stored in different places, starting with the farms where they are grown, we call this on-site conservation. Farmers store their own seeds and those of their neighbors. Most countries also have their own state seed banks, and there are also regional repositories. Next come international banks, they are the ones who simplify the process of exchanging seeds; they can make them available to scientists, farmers, and seed producers. This is vital for improving the quality of seeds; all improved plant varieties are obtained by crossing plants from different areas.
Our repository is additional protection for the collections of gene banks that I spoke about. Anything can happen if, for example, the electricity goes out for a day. Seeds stored in a jar may spoil. Social unrest, earthquakes, tsunamis can happen, problems happen and can affect the gene bank. This has been seen before, so we play the role of an insurer, storing spare copies for the gene banks of the world.
A seed conservation system needs, firstly, to be stored locally, where the crop is usually grown, that is, by the farmer, and only then - outside this area. Both copies are needed because farmers cannot store seeds for long periods under predictable conditions. At least when it comes to storing everything existing plants, this is simply impossible. A controlled environment is required, like in gene banks, with strict management rules and stable temperatures. And, of course, we need peasants who use the seeds, this is a looped system. Farmers with a variety of seeds from their fields share them with others through local or national gene banks. From there, the seeds go to international banks, who send spare copies here to Svalbard.
This is how the peasants from South America have access to seeds from Asia or Africa and other places. That is, there must be international banks with equipment for freezing seeds, plus national and local storage facilities, while farmers maintain diversity in their fields. These two sides must complement each other, and neither can work on its own.
Each depositor maintains similar storage conditions; checks are carried out regularly national banks to make sure the seeds are still viable. If the viability of the seeds has decreased, they can take the seeds from us, update their materials and then send us new copies.
- You have a program of working with sponsors. Among them are seed producers. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, for example, are involved in the seed business and own shares of Monsanto Corporation, which has raised concerns and criticism. I'd love to hear your answer.
Our foundation's job is to fund a system of cultural diversity. The storeroom is critical element international system. We have donors who provide us financial assistance, through our foundation. The idea is that the fund should be large enough to finance the largest seed banks and reserve in Norway without any time limit from the income from the funds it manages. On this moment the fund has not yet grown to this point, in connection with this we cooperate with governments around the world. In April next year There will be a big conference, the purpose of which is for everyone to get together and discuss this issue. Because we can succeed in this regard, it is doable. We may well leave behind a legacy by preserving these materials in perpetuity.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust is a public-private partnership and we accept donations from government agencies we partner with, as well as private foundations owned by wealthy individuals or companies. This was the plan from the very beginning. Today, our donors include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation you mentioned and several seed companies, not including Monsanto. From them we receive less than 5% of total funding. Important question here - who then uses these seeds. They are used by farmers, scientists, universities, but seed producers should also have access to them. They are engaged in breeding, crossing and obtaining seeds of certain varieties.
I think your question is leading to the topic of GMOs. How the seeds are produced depends on local laws in each country. We at the International Trust and seed banks do not store seeds from genetically modified species. We store all the variety of seeds obtained naturally. Next, what users do with genetic material at home, depends on the laws of a particular country. So we take a neutral position on this issue; it all depends on what legislation a particular country adopts on this issue.
Doomsday Vault
The Svalbard vault has an intriguing name: Noah's Ark. It is difficult to get here, and Mikael Koch reminds us that journalists here often recall James Bond films. But the Warehouse also has a serious scientific purpose— promote the conservation of biodiversity. About the difficulties of this task in conditions climate change in December is reminiscent of the Paris Climate Conference.
Climate and biodiversity have a long history together. Over the course of Earth's history, some plant species have disappeared while others have appeared. Change in concentration carbon dioxide, fluctuations in temperature and precipitation have led to the development of adaptation in plants. Climate influenced changes in the zones of plant existence and the very structure of ecosystems. Diversity climatic zones led to the emergence of diversity flora: About 6,000 plant species appeared on earth.
But plants, in turn, began to influence the climate, in particular, air humidity and temperature at local levels. Plants, in particular, stabilize oxygen and CO2 levels.
In a warming climate, this interdependence is even stronger. A change in just one parameter (for example, temperature) can lead to one plant species developing more actively to the detriment of other species. Changes in CO2 concentration affect the mechanisms of photosynthesis, plant life cycles (flowering, fruiting, etc.) can lengthen and slow down, and this is already a problem for agriculture (too early flowering plants may be susceptible to late frosts). Finally, some plants may begin to migrate north or south following their usual conditions, while others simply will not be able to adapt to new conditions and will disappear.
“Ensuring the conservation of plant genetic diversity to produce food for future generations is an important contribution to the fight against hunger and poverty in developing countries. The origin of the vast majority is associated with these countries. various plants, and it is these countries that have an urgent need to ensure food safety and further development Agriculture.
The Global Granary, which will be built in the permafrost rock of the Svalbard archipelago, is designed to store duplicate seed varieties from genetic seed banks located around the world. Many of these banks are in developing countries. If, for example, due to natural disasters, wars or, simply, lack of financial resources, the seeds are lost, then the seed collections can be restored thanks to the seeds from the storage facility on Svalbard.
A loss biological diversity is today one of the main threats against environment And sustainable development. The diversity of plants for food production is under constant pressure. The consequence of loss of biodiversity could be an irreversible loss of our ability to grow plants to produce food that is adaptable to climate change, new plant diseases and the needs of a growing population.”
This is an official announcement that appears on the website of the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food. And yes, it's in Russian. personally.
All photos are clickable.
1000 km from the North Pole. A super-mega storage facility was built in the permafrost. For seeds. In case of nuclear war and other disasters. The construction was financed by serious people (besides the Norwegian government) Bill Gates, for example.
The seeds will be collected from all over the world and can be stored for 1,000 years. The temperature in the storage is –18° C. If the refrigerators fail, the storage will continue to work, because is located in permafrost.
The most interesting thing is that the entire project was completed in just a year and a half. Where are we rushing to?
FAQ:
What is a granary?
The Svalbard Global Granary is not a gene bank. This is a guarantee storage facility where duplicate seed varieties are stored on behalf of various gene banks. It will only be possible to take seeds from the Global Granary on Svalbard if the seeds stored in the original funds are lost for one reason or another.
The party depositing the seeds on Svalbard retains ownership of them. Neither the Svalbard Global Granary nor Norway will have the right to allow anyone into the storage funds without the permission of the depositor. At the request of the depositing party, the seeds will be returned to it.
How many seeds is this granary designed for?
The storage facility is designed to deposit 3 million various types seeds Since each type will be represented by a sample containing about 500 seeds, the granary will have a maximum capacity of about 1.5 billion individual seeds.
Therefore, this granary will be able to preserve all the unique types of seeds stored today in gene banks, which number about 1,400, and which are located around the globe in more than 100 countries. In addition, this granary will be able to store samples of new types of seeds that will be collected in the future.
When will the Svalbard Global Granary be used? full power, it will become the largest global seed fund.
What type of seeds will be stored in the Global Granary on Svalbard?
Priority will be given to plant seeds that are important for food production and sustainable agriculture. This has a special great importance for developing countries where ensuring food safety is important task. If you look at this question V historical retrospective, then we will see that more than 7,000 plant species were included in the human menu as important components of nutrition. In modern agriculture, only 150 species are currently used. Population globe today uses only 12 plant species as the main source of plant foods.
Each plant species also includes a large number of varieties and varieties of plants. For example, there are more than 100,000 varieties of rice in the world.
How will the seeds be stored?
Seeds will be stored at minus 18 degrees Celsius. Seeds packed in sealed bags and placed in sealed boxes are placed on high shelves located inside the storage facility. Low temperature And limited access oxygen help slow down the metabolic processes and aging of seeds. Permafrost will guarantee that the seeds will remain viable even if the power supply system fails.
Who will own the seeds in the storage?
Each individual country or organization will have ownership of the seeds that it itself has deposited.
Why was Svalbard chosen?
Svalbard is, in many respects, a unique location suitable for such a specially equipped facility. Climatic and geological conditions Svalbard is ideal for constructing underground cold storage. Thanks to permafrost average temperature the storage will never rise above minus 3.5 degrees Celsius. The natural sandstone on Svalbard ensures the stability of buildings and is characterized by low background radiation. In terms of security, Svalbard is superior to many other gene banks in the world. In addition, Svalbard has a well-developed infrastructure with daily flights to the mainland and a reliable power supply system.
What will happen if the permafrost beneath Svalbard's surface begins to melt?
The issue of climate change was taken into account when choosing the location for the granary. The granary is located so high above sea level and at the same time so deep in the rock that there is no chance that it will be flooded by sea waters or that the permafrost will melt in the foreseeable future.
When will the granary on Svalbard be ready?
The granary will open in early 2008.
How much will it cost to build a granary?
The creation of a global grain storage facility on Svalbard will cost approximately NOK 45 million. These costs are borne by the Norwegian state. Responsible for conducting construction work there will be a Directorate civil engineering and property of Norway (Statsbygg).
What is a gene bank?
A gene bank is a repository of the genetic diversity of crop plants in the form of seeds, which are usually stored frozen. The ideal storage temperature is between minus 10 and minus 20 degrees Celsius. Each type of seed is stored separately, for example in a bottle, box or sealed aluminum foil bag. Genebanks may also consist of living plants if storing these plants as seeds causes problems.
How many gene banks are there?
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has compiled a list of more than 1,400 collections. The largest national gene banks are located in China, Russia, Japan, India, South Korea, Germany and Canada (countries are arranged in order according to the size of their banks). In addition, there are also banks with an international profile - in particular those multi-country and critically important gene banks that are part of the Advisory Group on international studies in Agriculture (CGIAR).
How many types of seeds are there in gene banks?
To date, approximately 6.5 million seed samples are stored in gene banks. However, only 1-2 million of them are considered “unique”.
Who uses gene banks?
The main users of gene banks are breeders and scientists.
Preserved in gene banks various samples are the starting material for the current selection. They also underlie large number carried out biological research. Many hundreds of thousands of copies are supplied annually for these purposes.
Is there a need to preserve such a wide variety of varieties?
Different varieties of plants have various properties, and these properties cannot always be seen with the naked eye. We can talk about genetically determined resistance to diseases, the ability to adapt to different soils and different climates, differences in taste and nutritional properties. If we ever need to exploit the properties of a particular unique plant in the future, we need to ensure that the plant can still be found.
What threats are gene banks and their plant collections exposed to?
The biggest threat is the lack of reliable funding for gene banks. Big problem may also become bad management. In addition, gene banks can be damaged by natural disasters, wars and civil unrest. First of all, the impact of various negative factors In the future, gene banks located in developing countries may be affected.
How many plant varieties have been lost?
This is impossible to know for sure, since there is no basis to accurately determine exactly how many plant varieties existed before. But it is clear that the number of varieties used during the last 30 years of agricultural intensification has declined significantly. The loss of these varieties is irreplaceable. Previous varieties of wheat and potatoes may disappear just as dinosaurs disappeared in history.
How long can seeds live when frozen?
It depends on the specific variety. Some seeds, such as peas, can only remain viable for 20 to 30 years, while other types, such as sunflowers and some grains, can remain viable for many decades or even centuries. Gradually all the seeds lose their viability and die. Before this happens, several seeds are taken from specially preserved samples and planted in the soil. After this, new, young seeds will be collected and placed in storage. In this way, a single original variety can be stored almost forever.
Why is the global grain storage facility on Svalbard important for developing countries?
Ensuring food safety is challenging task for many developing countries. This is due to many factors, in particular, the fact that the infrastructure for the conservation of genetic resources is not always sufficiently developed. Available in the global granary on Svalbard additional system security will therefore be of particular importance for many developing countries.
Many developing countries rich in plant genetic resources. The granary on Svalbard will then provide an additional guarantee, which will be especially important for the conservation of such resources.
Storage layout
The same diagram is only in, you can look at everything in detail.
It is located at a depth of 120 meters and an altitude of 130 meters (430 feet) above sea level in the Svalbard village of Longyearbyen. The bank will be equipped with explosion-proof doors and airlock chambers. The safety of materials will be ensured by refrigeration units capable of running on local coal, as well as permafrost. The seeds are planned to be stored wrapped in aluminum foil at a temperature of −20 to −30 °C.
Svalbard was chosen for the seed bank due to the permafrost and low tectonic activity in the archipelago area.
News Half a million seed samples have accumulated in the Doomsday vault, reports the Associated Press. The last seeds to enter the storage facility were the seeds of a German pink tomato and wild strawberry from Russia, LiveScience clarifies. Back in mid-2008, the storage facility contained only 250 thousand seeds. In total, it can hold 4.5 million samples. The Doomsday Repository was opened in 2008 and is located on the Spitsbergen archipelago, just a thousand kilometers from the North Pole. It is planned that scientists will collect the seeds of most known species plants. The storage facility is capable of surviving disasters such as nuclear war or global warming(we read, geoclimatic disasters). $9.6 million was spent on the construction of the storage facility. The initiator of the creation of the storage facility was Norway, on whose territory the giant warehouse is located. The Doomsday Vault is not the only project of this kind. West Sussex in the UK is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, where seeds from just under 10 percent of all known plant species were collected by October 2009.
About the Doomsday Vault.
