PART ONE
Source: http://rva.org.uk/volunteering/
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure seed bank on the
Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen in the remote
Arctic Svalbard archipelago, about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi)
from the North Pole.
Conservationist Cary Fowler, in association with the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR),
started the vault to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds that
are duplicate samples, or "spare" copies, of seeds held in gene
banks worldwide.
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2791206/10k-seeds-sent-arctic-safeguard-humanity-against-climate-change.html
Source:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/global-seed-bank-opens-doomsday-vault-to-continue-reseach-on-syrian-plants/
It has space for over 4 million seed samples, and in the ten
years since the idea for the Seed Vault first germinated it has
already amassed 800,000 different varieties, which is one third of
the seeds currently in existence. If climate change threatens the
world’s present supply of food, we want in on this.
Source:
http://whenonearth.net/svalbard-global-seed-vault-hope-zombie-apocalypse/
Photo Source : The Underground Alas Project
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault's mission is to provide a safety
net against accidental loss of diversity in traditional genebanks.
While the popular press has emphasized its possible utility in the
event of a major regional or global catastrophe, it will be more
frequently accessed when genebanks lose samples due to
mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, and
natural disasters. These events occur with some regularity. War and
civil strife have a history of destroying some genebanks. The
national seed bank of the Philippines was damaged by flooding and
later destroyed by a fire; the seed banks of Afghanistan and Iraq
have been lost completely. According to The Economist, "the
Svalbard vault is a backup for the world's 1,750 seed banks,
storehouses of agricultural biodiversity.". By the request of
Norwegian government, no genetically modified seeds are stored at
the vault.
Grethe Helene Evjen, Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Ministry of
Agriculture and Food, explains that it was largely created because
most seed vaults are south of the equator. “It’s a security policy
to keep them far apart,” she says. “Svalbard’s not easily
accessible, so it’s regarded as a safe place and away from the
other gene banks of the world.”
Source:
https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/the-arctic-doomsday-vault-might-save-our-food-future
But why Svalbard? Surely it could be pretty much anywhere in the
world? “We planned the seed vault for very long-term, so the seeds
will survive or keep their ability to germinate much better if they
are kept in a cold place, below zero and [staying] dry. They can be
kept a very, very long time,” Grethe explains. “We don’t know how
long yet; we haven’t really measured it precisely, but there are
some seeds that have been kept for thousands of years in airtight,
dry, and cold conditions.”
Source:
https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/the-arctic-doomsday-vault-might-save-our-food-future
The need for coolness is taken so seriously that the
1,000-square-meter vault is actually built inside a mountain for
consistently freezing temperatures, with additional coolers built
in. The vault holds 500 seeds of each plant, which have been
carefully stored in aluminium bags, labeled, sent off to Svalbard,
X-rayed by the scientists in Norway, and then packed in small
plastic boxes, which helps create space and keep the samples cool.
While nobody works there full-time, the centre has a 24-hour-a-day
team of locals who check up on the building, that the electricity’s
still working, and that everything’s exactly as it should be. It’s
also built 130 metres above sea level and is secured with bolts and
spray concrete to make it as indestructible as possible. Little
wonder it’s been nicknamed the Doomsday Vault.
And with a UN report saying that climate change poses a threat
to food supplies, we’d better hope the seeds do keep. “Eventual
change in climate is the main threat—that’s a threat to the
production in many parts of the world and most agricultural areas,”
says Grethe. “It will mean a different environment for the
production of crops, and we’ll have developed and stored different
types of seeds that could thrive in a new type of climate. The seed
vault represents the huge diversity.
Source:
https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/the-arctic-doomsday-vault-might-save-our-food-future
Grethe adds, “What’s most important is that each seed can
contribute to food security—for farmers, breeders, and researchers
to develop climate-adapted seeds.”
On top of all this, the explosion in the planet’s population has
to be catered for. Thinktank Population Matters estimates that
there’s a 70 percent chance the number of people on Earth will jump
from 7 billion today to 11 billion in 2100. That’s an awful lot of
mouths to feed. “It will create more need for food and agricultural
land. There isn’t much possibility of increasing the area of
agricultural land, but we have to increase the production somehow,”
says Grethe. And the researchers at the vault will have to improve
varieties and create locally adapted varieties for the climate,
too, right? “Yes,” Grethe says. “How the seeds respond to light and
temperature is important to reach the goal of providing enough food
for all of us.”
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3360577/Doomsday-Arctic-seed-vault-receive-two-deposits-2016.html
If the weather continues to get warmer and wetter, for example,
there will likely be more diseases attacking crops in the field.
“So then we will look for genes that are resistant to these types
of new diseases that will develop,” Grethe says. “Maybe we can’t
find them in the crops that we’re currently using, so maybe we have
to look in different places, like their ‘relatives’ to find genes
that are resistant.”
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3360577/Doomsday-Arctic-seed-vault-receive-two-deposits-2016.html
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, pictured Feb. 26, 2008, in
Longyearbyen, Norway.
Source:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/inside-doomsday-vault-past-arctic-circle/story?id=29350284
This isn’t paranoid fantasy—there’s historical precedent for
this level of care. The Irish potato famine that started in 1845
killed 1 million people, and caused another million to
emigrate. “They had to go back to South America to find another
species of potato that had a resistant gene,” says Grethe.
But climate change isn’t the only issue, as monocrops pose a big
problem for biodiversity, too. “I think that if everybody’s using
the same type of crop varieties all over the world, it’s a risk,”
says Grethe. “If the diseases and the pests change their pattern
and the way they work, and move from one part of the world to
another, and come into an environment that could have a big impact
on the identical crops, then there could very easily be a disaster.
But of course, we have a lot more knowledge now and we have more
scientists and access to the seed vault. Hopefully, we’ll manage
much better.”
While the work is very serious stuff, the design of the building
makes it look like a beacon of hope, too. The front is partly lit
but also reflects the polar light to give the centre and its
surrounding mountains an ethereal glow. “It really lights up like a
jewel in the dark Arctic night,” says Grethe. “It’s really
beautiful.”
No doubt the conspiracy theorists have some amazing idea about
the Illuminati illuminating the Norwegian Arctic, but for most of
us, it represents an incredible attempt to keep the world’s bellies
full.
Source:
http://proactive-art.org/post/12741173513/art-in-the-arctic-the-svalbard-global-seed-vault
PART TWO
Source: http://sinerjimetal.com.tr/
Norway’s “gift to the world”: the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBnkRE9gM4
The Crop Trust, Feeding a Growing World
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYK11SJzgJk
PART THREE
Source:
http://penelopeillustration.com/reading-trails-logo-icons/
(TASK 1)
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/381187555933537720/
LITERATURE[footnoteRef:1] [1: Last accessed on November 4th,
2016]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
https://munchies.vice.com/en/articles/the-arctic-doomsday-vault-might-save-our-food-future
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3360577/Doomsday-Arctic-seed-vault-receive-two-deposits-2016.html
VIDEO CLIPS[footnoteRef:2] [2: Last accessed on November 4th,
2016]
Norway’s “gift to the world”: the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBnkRE9gM4
The Crop Trust, Feeding a Growing World
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYK11SJzgJk
