Biodiversity 'doomsday vault' comes to life in Arctic

Somebody is actually thinking ahead......? I'm not so sure how much

good it will do in the event of an apocalyptic scale natural disaster

or the results of man's handiwork. It could take decades if not

centuries to make the earth's land masses arable again to efficiently

produce foods on a global scale. I guess there's no harm in keeping

one's fingers crossed and a rabbit foot handy. ;-)

Biodiversity 'doomsday vault' comes to life in Arctic by Pierre-Henry

Deshayes

Sun Feb 24, 1:25 PM ET

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) - Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah's

Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic "doomsday

vault" filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be

inaugurated here Tuesday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace

Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Matai will be among the

personalities present at the inauguration of the vault, which has been

carved into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, just some

1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole.

The vault, made up of three spacious cold chambers each measuring 27 x

10 metres (89 x 33 feet), create a long trident-shaped tunnel bored

into the sandstone and limestone.

It has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds from

all known varieties of the planet's main food crops, making it

possible to re-establish plants if they disappear from their natural

environment or are obliterated by major disasters.

"The facility is built to hold twice as many varieties of agricultural

crops as we think exist," explained Cary Fowler, executive director of

the Global Crop Diversity Trust and project mastermind.

"It will not be filled up in my lifetime, nor in my grandchildren's

lifetime," he predicted in a phone interview with AFP.

Norway has assumed the six million euro (8.9 million dollar) charge

for building the vault in its Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, where

ironically no crops grow.

Secured behind an airlock door, the three airtight chambers have the

capacity to house duplicates of samples from all the world's more than

1,400 existing seed banks.

Many of the more vulnerable seed banks have begun contributing to the

"doomsday vault" collection, but some of the world's biodiversity has

already disappeared, with gene vaults in both Iraq and Afghanistan

destroyed by war and a seed bank in the Philippines annihilated by a

typhoon.

By the time of the inauguration on Tuesday, the Svalbard Global Seed

Vault should hold some 250,000 samples, which will remain the property

of their countries of origin.

Pakistan and Kenya, both undergoing periods of serious unrest, have

sent seed collections, while samples sent from Colombia have been

closely scrutinised by police to avoid the project becoming a vehicle

for drug trafficking.

"I've been working in this field for 30 years and I thought I knew at

least all the crops," Fowler said.

After receiving a list of all the different seeds in the vault,

however, "I must admit there are a number of crops I've never heard of

before," he said.

That's a spectacular amount of diversity for Svalbard, where no trees

can grow due to the permafrost and where the mercury plummets to an

average 14 degrees Celsius below zero (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in

winter.

The Norwegian archipelago, which is home to some 2,300 people, was

selected not despite but because of its inhospitable climate, as well

as its remote location far from civil strife.

The seeds of wheat, maize, oats and other crops will be stored at a

constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, and even if the

freezer system fails the permafrost will ensure that temperatures

never rise above 3.5 degrees Celsius below freezing.

"Svalbard really met all the criteria," Fowler said.

Protected by high walls of fortified concrete, an armoured door, a

sensor alarm and the native polar bears that roam the region, the

"doomsday vault" has been built 130 metres (425 feet) above current

sea level -- high enough that it would not flood if the Greenland and

Antarctic ice sheets melt entirely due to global warming.

The concrete cocoon has also been built to withstand nuclear missile

attacks or a plunging plane, something that could come in handy in

light of the 6.4-scale tremor -- the biggest earthquake in Norway's

history -- registered near the archipelago on Thursday.

Somebody is actually thinking ahead......? I'm not so sure how much

good it will do in the event of an apocalyptic scale natural disaster

or the results of man's handiwork. It could take decades if not

centuries to make the earth's land masses arable again to efficiently

produce foods on a global scale. I guess there's no harm in keeping

one's fingers crossed and a rabbit foot handy. ;-)

Biodiversity 'doomsday vault' comes to life in Arctic by Pierre-Henry

Deshayes

Sun Feb 24, 1:25 PM ET

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) - Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah's

Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic "doomsday

vault" filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be

inaugurated here Tuesday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace

Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Matai will be among the

personalities present at the inauguration of the vault, which has been

carved into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, just some

1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole.

The vault, made up of three spacious cold chambers each measuring 27 x

10 metres (89 x 33 feet), create a long trident-shaped tunnel bored

into the sandstone and limestone.

It has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds from

all known varieties of the planet's main food crops, making it

possible to re-establish plants if they disappear from their natural

environment or are obliterated by major disasters.

"The facility is built to hold twice as many varieties of agricultural

crops as we think exist," explained Cary Fowler, executive director of

the Global Crop Diversity Trust and project mastermind.

"It will not be filled up in my lifetime, nor in my grandchildren's

lifetime," he predicted in a phone interview with AFP.

Norway has assumed the six million euro (8.9 million dollar) charge

for building the vault in its Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, where

ironically no crops grow.

Secured behind an airlock door, the three airtight chambers have the

capacity to house duplicates of samples from all the world's more than

1,400 existing seed banks.

Many of the more vulnerable seed banks have begun contributing to the

"doomsday vault" collection, but some of the world's biodiversity has

already disappeared, with gene vaults in both Iraq and Afghanistan

destroyed by war and a seed bank in the Philippines annihilated by a

typhoon.

By the time of the inauguration on Tuesday, the Svalbard Global Seed

Vault should hold some 250,000 samples, which will remain the property

of their countries of origin.

Pakistan and Kenya, both undergoing periods of serious unrest, have

sent seed collections, while samples sent from Colombia have been

closely scrutinised by police to avoid the project becoming a vehicle

for drug trafficking.

"I've been working in this field for 30 years and I thought I knew at

least all the crops," Fowler said.

After receiving a list of all the different seeds in the vault,

however, "I must admit there are a number of crops I've never heard of

before," he said.

That's a spectacular amount of diversity for Svalbard, where no trees

can grow due to the permafrost and where the mercury plummets to an

average 14 degrees Celsius below zero (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in

winter.

The Norwegian archipelago, which is home to some 2,300 people, was

selected not despite but because of its inhospitable climate, as well

as its remote location far from civil strife.

The seeds of wheat, maize, oats and other crops will be stored at a

constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, and even if the

freezer system fails the permafrost will ensure that temperatures

never rise above 3.5 degrees Celsius below freezing.

"Svalbard really met all the criteria," Fowler said.

Protected by high walls of fortified concrete, an armoured door, a

sensor alarm and the native polar bears that roam the region, the

"doomsday vault" has been built 130 metres (425 feet) above current

sea level -- high enough that it would not flood if the Greenland and

Antarctic ice sheets melt entirely due to global warming.

The concrete cocoon has also been built to withstand nuclear missile

attacks or a plunging plane, something that could come in handy in

light of the 6.4-scale tremor -- the biggest earthquake in Norway's

history -- registered near the archipelago on Thursday.

Somebody is actually thinking ahead......? I'm not so sure how much

good it will do in the event of an apocalyptic scale natural disaster

or the results of man's handiwork. It could take decades if not

centuries to make the earth's land masses arable again to efficiently

produce foods on a global scale. I guess there's no harm in keeping

one's fingers crossed and a rabbit foot handy. ;-)

Biodiversity 'doomsday vault' comes to life in Arctic by Pierre-Henry

Deshayes

Sun Feb 24, 1:25 PM ET

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) - Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah's

Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic "doomsday

vault" filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be

inaugurated here Tuesday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace

Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Matai will be among the

personalities present at the inauguration of the vault, which has been

carved into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, just some

1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole.

The vault, made up of three spacious cold chambers each measuring 27 x

10 metres (89 x 33 feet), create a long trident-shaped tunnel bored

into the sandstone and limestone.

It has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds from

all known varieties of the planet's main food crops, making it

possible to re-establish plants if they disappear from their natural

environment or are obliterated by major disasters.

"The facility is built to hold twice as many varieties of agricultural

crops as we think exist," explained Cary Fowler, executive director of

the Global Crop Diversity Trust and project mastermind.

"It will not be filled up in my lifetime, nor in my grandchildren's

lifetime," he predicted in a phone interview with AFP.

Norway has assumed the six million euro (8.9 million dollar) charge

for building the vault in its Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, where

ironically no crops grow.

Secured behind an airlock door, the three airtight chambers have the

capacity to house duplicates of samples from all the world's more than

1,400 existing seed banks.

Many of the more vulnerable seed banks have begun contributing to the

"doomsday vault" collection, but some of the world's biodiversity has

already disappeared, with gene vaults in both Iraq and Afghanistan

destroyed by war and a seed bank in the Philippines annihilated by a

typhoon.

By the time of the inauguration on Tuesday, the Svalbard Global Seed

Vault should hold some 250,000 samples, which will remain the property

of their countries of origin.

Pakistan and Kenya, both undergoing periods of serious unrest, have

sent seed collections, while samples sent from Colombia have been

closely scrutinised by police to avoid the project becoming a vehicle

for drug trafficking.

"I've been working in this field for 30 years and I thought I knew at

least all the crops," Fowler said.

After receiving a list of all the different seeds in the vault,

however, "I must admit there are a number of crops I've never heard of

before," he said.

That's a spectacular amount of diversity for Svalbard, where no trees

can grow due to the permafrost and where the mercury plummets to an

average 14 degrees Celsius below zero (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in

winter.

The Norwegian archipelago, which is home to some 2,300 people, was

selected not despite but because of its inhospitable climate, as well

as its remote location far from civil strife.

The seeds of wheat, maize, oats and other crops will be stored at a

constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, and even if the

freezer system fails the permafrost will ensure that temperatures

never rise above 3.5 degrees Celsius below freezing.

"Svalbard really met all the criteria," Fowler said.

Protected by high walls of fortified concrete, an armoured door, a

sensor alarm and the native polar bears that roam the region, the

"doomsday vault" has been built 130 metres (425 feet) above current

sea level -- high enough that it would not flood if the Greenland and

Antarctic ice sheets melt entirely due to global warming.

The concrete cocoon has also been built to withstand nuclear missile

attacks or a plunging plane, something that could come in handy in

light of the 6.4-scale tremor -- the biggest earthquake in Norway's

history -- registered near the archipelago on Thursday.

On Feb 24, 11:04 pm, Igor The Terrible

<igor_the_terri...@mad.scientist.com> wrote:

> Somebody is actually thinking ahead......? I'm not so sure how much

> good it will do in the event of an apocalyptic scale natural disaster

> or the results of man's handiwork. It could take decades if not

> centuries to make the earth's land masses arable again to efficiently

> produce foods on a global scale. I guess there's no harm in keeping

> one's fingers crossed and a rabbit foot handy. ;-)

>

> Biodiversity 'doomsday vault' comes to life in Arctic by Pierre-Henry

> Deshayes

> Sun Feb 24, 1:25 PM ET

>

> LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) - Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah's

> Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic "doomsday

> vault" filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be

> inaugurated here Tuesday.

>

> European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace

> Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Matai will be among the

> personalities present at the inauguration of the vault, which has been

> carved into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, just some

> 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole.

>

> The vault, made up of three spacious cold chambers each measuring 27 x

> 10 metres (89 x 33 feet), create a long trident-shaped tunnel bored

> into the sandstone and limestone.

>

> It has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds from

> all known varieties of the planet's main food crops, making it

> possible to re-establish plants if they disappear from their natural

> environment or are obliterated by major disasters.

>

> "The facility is built to hold twice as many varieties of agricultural

> crops as we think exist," explained Cary Fowler, executive director of

> the Global Crop Diversity Trust and project mastermind.

>

> "It will not be filled up in my lifetime, nor in my grandchildren's

> lifetime," he predicted in a phone interview with AFP.

>

> Norway has assumed the six million euro (8.9 million dollar) charge

> for building the vault in its Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, where

> ironically no crops grow.

>

> Secured behind an airlock door, the three airtight chambers have the

> capacity to house duplicates of samples from all the world's more than

> 1,400 existing seed banks.

>

> Many of the more vulnerable seed banks have begun contributing to the

> "doomsday vault" collection, but some of the world's biodiversity has

> already disappeared, with gene vaults in both Iraq and Afghanistan

> destroyed by war and a seed bank in the Philippines annihilated by a

> typhoon.

>

> By the time of the inauguration on Tuesday, the Svalbard Global Seed

> Vault should hold some 250,000 samples, which will remain the property

> of their countries of origin.

>

> Pakistan and Kenya, both undergoing periods of serious unrest, have

> sent seed collections, while samples sent from Colombia have been

> closely scrutinised by police to avoid the project becoming a vehicle

> for drug trafficking.

>

> "I've been working in this field for 30 years and I thought I knew at

> least all the crops," Fowler said.

>

> After receiving a list of all the different seeds in the vault,

> however, "I must admit there are a number of crops I've never heard of

> before," he said.

>

> That's a spectacular amount of diversity for Svalbard, where no trees

> can grow due to the permafrost and where the mercury plummets to an

> average 14 degrees Celsius below zero (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in

> winter.

>

> The Norwegian archipelago, which is home to some 2,300 people, was

> selected not despite but because of its inhospitable climate, as well

> as its remote location far from civil strife.

>

> The seeds of wheat, maize, oats and other crops will be stored at a

> constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, and even if the

> freezer system fails the permafrost will ensure that temperatures

> never rise above 3.5 degrees Celsius below freezing.

>

> "Svalbard really met all the criteria," Fowler said.

>

> Protected by high walls of fortified concrete, an armoured door, a

> sensor alarm and the native polar bears that roam the region, the

> "doomsday vault" has been built 130 metres (425 feet) above current

> sea level -- high enough that it would not flood if the Greenland and

> Antarctic ice sheets melt entirely due to global warming.

>

> The concrete cocoon has also been built to withstand nuclear missile

> attacks or a plunging plane, something that could come in handy in

> light of the 6.4-scale tremor -- the biggest earthquake in Norway's

> history -- registered near the archipelago on Thursday.

Watch the movie, "Silent Running."

On Feb 24, 11:04 pm, Igor The Terrible

<igor_the_terri...@mad.scientist.com> wrote:

> Somebody is actually thinking ahead......? I'm not so sure how much

> good it will do in the event of an apocalyptic scale natural disaster

> or the results of man's handiwork. It could take decades if not

> centuries to make the earth's land masses arable again to efficiently

> produce foods on a global scale. I guess there's no harm in keeping

> one's fingers crossed and a rabbit foot handy. ;-)

>

> Biodiversity 'doomsday vault' comes to life in Arctic by Pierre-Henry

> Deshayes

> Sun Feb 24, 1:25 PM ET

>

> LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) - Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah's

> Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic "doomsday

> vault" filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be

> inaugurated here Tuesday.

>

> European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace

> Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Matai will be among the

> personalities present at the inauguration of the vault, which has been

> carved into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, just some

> 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole.

>

> The vault, made up of three spacious cold chambers each measuring 27 x

> 10 metres (89 x 33 feet), create a long trident-shaped tunnel bored

> into the sandstone and limestone.

>

> It has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds from

> all known varieties of the planet's main food crops, making it

> possible to re-establish plants if they disappear from their natural

> environment or are obliterated by major disasters.

>

> "The facility is built to hold twice as many varieties of agricultural

> crops as we think exist," explained Cary Fowler, executive director of

> the Global Crop Diversity Trust and project mastermind.

>

> "It will not be filled up in my lifetime, nor in my grandchildren's

> lifetime," he predicted in a phone interview with AFP.

>

> Norway has assumed the six million euro (8.9 million dollar) charge

> for building the vault in its Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, where

> ironically no crops grow.

>

> Secured behind an airlock door, the three airtight chambers have the

> capacity to house duplicates of samples from all the world's more than

> 1,400 existing seed banks.

>

> Many of the more vulnerable seed banks have begun contributing to the

> "doomsday vault" collection, but some of the world's biodiversity has

> already disappeared, with gene vaults in both Iraq and Afghanistan

> destroyed by war and a seed bank in the Philippines annihilated by a

> typhoon.

>

> By the time of the inauguration on Tuesday, the Svalbard Global Seed

> Vault should hold some 250,000 samples, which will remain the property

> of their countries of origin.

>

> Pakistan and Kenya, both undergoing periods of serious unrest, have

> sent seed collections, while samples sent from Colombia have been

> closely scrutinised by police to avoid the project becoming a vehicle

> for drug trafficking.

>

> "I've been working in this field for 30 years and I thought I knew at

> least all the crops," Fowler said.

>

> After receiving a list of all the different seeds in the vault,

> however, "I must admit there are a number of crops I've never heard of

> before," he said.

>

> That's a spectacular amount of diversity for Svalbard, where no trees

> can grow due to the permafrost and where the mercury plummets to an

> average 14 degrees Celsius below zero (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in

> winter.

>

> The Norwegian archipelago, which is home to some 2,300 people, was

> selected not despite but because of its inhospitable climate, as well

> as its remote location far from civil strife.

>

> The seeds of wheat, maize, oats and other crops will be stored at a

> constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, and even if the

> freezer system fails the permafrost will ensure that temperatures

> never rise above 3.5 degrees Celsius below freezing.

>

> "Svalbard really met all the criteria," Fowler said.

>

> Protected by high walls of fortified concrete, an armoured door, a

> sensor alarm and the native polar bears that roam the region, the

> "doomsday vault" has been built 130 metres (425 feet) above current

> sea level -- high enough that it would not flood if the Greenland and

> Antarctic ice sheets melt entirely due to global warming.

>

> The concrete cocoon has also been built to withstand nuclear missile

> attacks or a plunging plane, something that could come in handy in

> light of the 6.4-scale tremor -- the biggest earthquake in Norway's

> history -- registered near the archipelago on Thursday.

Watch the movie, "Silent Running."

On Feb 24, 11:04 pm, Igor The Terrible

<igor_the_terri...@mad.scientist.com> wrote:

> Somebody is actually thinking ahead......? I'm not so sure how much

> good it will do in the event of an apocalyptic scale natural disaster

> or the results of man's handiwork. It could take decades if not

> centuries to make the earth's land masses arable again to efficiently

> produce foods on a global scale. I guess there's no harm in keeping

> one's fingers crossed and a rabbit foot handy. ;-)

>

> Biodiversity 'doomsday vault' comes to life in Arctic by Pierre-Henry

> Deshayes

> Sun Feb 24, 1:25 PM ET

>

> LONGYEARBYEN, Norway (AFP) - Aimed at providing mankind with a Noah's

> Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe, an Arctic "doomsday

> vault" filled with samples of the world's most important seeds will be

> inaugurated here Tuesday.

>

> European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Nobel Peace

> Prize winning environmentalist Wangari Matai will be among the

> personalities present at the inauguration of the vault, which has been

> carved into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, just some

> 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole.

>

> The vault, made up of three spacious cold chambers each measuring 27 x

> 10 metres (89 x 33 feet), create a long trident-shaped tunnel bored

> into the sandstone and limestone.

>

> It has the capacity to hold up to 4.5 million batches of seeds from

> all known varieties of the planet's main food crops, making it

> possible to re-establish plants if they disappear from their natural

> environment or are obliterated by major disasters.

>

> "The facility is built to hold twice as many varieties of agricultural

> crops as we think exist," explained Cary Fowler, executive director of

> the Global Crop Diversity Trust and project mastermind.

>

> "It will not be filled up in my lifetime, nor in my grandchildren's

> lifetime," he predicted in a phone interview with AFP.

>

> Norway has assumed the six million euro (8.9 million dollar) charge

> for building the vault in its Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, where

> ironically no crops grow.

>

> Secured behind an airlock door, the three airtight chambers have the

> capacity to house duplicates of samples from all the world's more than

> 1,400 existing seed banks.

>

> Many of the more vulnerable seed banks have begun contributing to the

> "doomsday vault" collection, but some of the world's biodiversity has

> already disappeared, with gene vaults in both Iraq and Afghanistan

> destroyed by war and a seed bank in the Philippines annihilated by a

> typhoon.

>

> By the time of the inauguration on Tuesday, the Svalbard Global Seed

> Vault should hold some 250,000 samples, which will remain the property

> of their countries of origin.

>

> Pakistan and Kenya, both undergoing periods of serious unrest, have

> sent seed collections, while samples sent from Colombia have been

> closely scrutinised by police to avoid the project becoming a vehicle

> for drug trafficking.

>

> "I've been working in this field for 30 years and I thought I knew at

> least all the crops," Fowler said.

>

> After receiving a list of all the different seeds in the vault,

> however, "I must admit there are a number of crops I've never heard of

> before," he said.

>

> That's a spectacular amount of diversity for Svalbard, where no trees

> can grow due to the permafrost and where the mercury plummets to an

> average 14 degrees Celsius below zero (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in

> winter.

>

> The Norwegian archipelago, which is home to some 2,300 people, was

> selected not despite but because of its inhospitable climate, as well

> as its remote location far from civil strife.

>

> The seeds of wheat, maize, oats and other crops will be stored at a

> constant temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, and even if the

> freezer system fails the permafrost will ensure that temperatures

> never rise above 3.5 degrees Celsius below freezing.

>

> "Svalbard really met all the criteria," Fowler said.

>

> Protected by high walls of fortified concrete, an armoured door, a

> sensor alarm and the native polar bears that roam the region, the

> "doomsday vault" has been built 130 metres (425 feet) above current

> sea level -- high enough that it would not flood if the Greenland and

> Antarctic ice sheets melt entirely due to global warming.

>

> The concrete cocoon has also been built to withstand nuclear missile

> attacks or a plunging plane, something that could come in handy in

> light of the 6.4-scale tremor -- the biggest earthquake in Norway's

> history -- registered near the archipelago on Thursday.

Watch the movie, "Silent Running."