With this episode in my series inspired by World Changing, my random stop in the book finds a section entitled The Polar “Doomsday” Vault. Wow, that sounds pretty horrifying, but intriguing. According the the book, the facility is “a reinforced concrete vault in a mountain cave on a frozen Norwegian island that could someday become one of the most important resources for sustaining life on earth.” That is pretty scary.
Of course “doomsday” is the nickname given by the media. It’s real name is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault operated by the Global Crop Diversity Trust. The complex was opened in 2008 as a last line of defense, or a safety net, against gradual decline or catastrophic collapse of food global food crops. Natural calamities, human strife, or even poor management can lead to sudden irreversible collapse, and eventual disappearance of valuable food crops. Think of it as a kind of food insurance policy.
The vault is literally that, a deep section of carved out mountain near the village of Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Svalbard is a group of islands with the northernmost point in the world serviced by regular air flights. The reason for this particular location is its consistently cold location, so far north that it’s totally dark for four months of the year. Should there be a power outage, the seeds will be kept at the proper temperature for a very long time.
Amazingly, although the work of the vault is a global issue, the country of Norway totally funded its construction and supports annual operating expenses. Like a bank, the seeds do not belong to Norway nor the Global Crop Diversity Trust, but the donating countries. This issue is so important that vault managers, the trust, and the Norwegian government are not allowed to open seed boxes transported to the facility. Only representatives from the donating country or institution are allowed to do so. Today the vault holds more than 420,000 seed samples.
Whenever I read about programs like this I think of what I’ve read about genetically modified food. Do you know that of all the corn types that exist today, all have been modified in some way to increase production, reduce the amount of water needed, and make the plant more resistant to pests? Corn has been so altered that it cannot exist naturally without human interaction. It’s a vital food crop that is utterly dependent upon human care. If left alone, it’s estimated that all corn would become extinct within two years. Many of the industrialized agriculture around the world have what are called suicide genes. This is a genetic modification that limits a seed to a single crop life. In other words, seeds gathered from living plants grown from suicide gene seeds will not grow successive crops. Big agricultural firms like Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland are producing seeds that grow one season of a crop, and one only. It’s their guarantee of future customers, but what would happen if something stopped either company from producing more seeds? What would happen to global food production if farmers the world over were not able to take current crop seeds and plant them next season? Vital crops would quickly disappear.
Thus the need for a “doomsday” seed vault. It’s a safeguard against natural and human produced calamity. The idea has been around for a long time, but international pressure and treaties have made such a facility a reality. I for one am happy that such a place exists. It’s a little James Bond-ish, but seems quite imperative.
Written by Kevin O’Donnell, fundamentalist, at thread collaborative. To read more on similar subjects, please visit his web site here. Also, check out his previous posts in this series - Introduction, Buy Better Clothes, What’s the Big Deal With Portland, Green Facades, Cotton: The Fabric of Our Lives, Tool Sharing, Fog Catching, Energy Conservation, Cradle to Cradle Protocol, DIY Culture, Buy Local, and Certifications.
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