Doomsday' Vault Design Unveiled
BBy
Mark Kinver
Science and nature reporter, BBC News
Artist's impression of the entrance to
the vault
The
final design for a "doomsday"
vault that will house seeds from all known
varieties of food crops has been unveiled
by the Norwegian government.
The
Svalbard International Seed Vault will
be built into a mountainside on a remote
island near the North Pole.
The
vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture
from future catastrophes, such as nuclear
war, asteroid strikes and climate change.
Construction
begins in March, and the seed bank is
scheduled to open in 2008.
The
Norwegian government is paying the $5m
(£2.5m) construction costs of the
vault, which will have enough space to
house three million seed samples.
The
collection and maintenance of the collection
is being organised by the Global Crop
Diversity Trust, which has responsibility
of ensuring the "conservation of
crop diversity in perpetuity".
"We
want a safety net because we do not want
to take too many chances with crop biodiversity,"
said Cary Fowler, the Trust's executive
director.
"Can
you imagine an effective, efficient, sustainable
response to climate change, water shortages,
food security issues without what is going
to go in the vault - it is the raw material
of agriculture."
Future
proof
The
seed vault will be built 120m (364ft)
inside a mountain on Spitsbergen, one
of four islands that make up Svalbard.
Dr
Fowler said Svalbard, 1,000km (621 miles)
north of mainland Norway, was chosen as
the location for the vault because it
was very remote and it also offered the
level of stability required for the long-term
project.
"We
looked very far into the future. We looked
at radiation levels inside the mountain,
and we looked at the area's geological
structure," he told BBC News.
"We
also modelled climate change in a drastic
form 200 years into future, which included
the melting of ice sheets at the North
and South Poles, and Greenland, to make
sure that this site was above the resulting
water level."
By
building the vault deep inside the mountain,
the surrounding permafrost would continue
to provide natural refrigeration if the
mechanical system failed, explained Dr
Fowler.
'Living
Fort Knox'
The
Arctic vault will act as a back-up store
for a global network of seed banks financially
supported by the trust.
Dr
Fowler said that a proportion of the seeds
housed at these banks would be deposited
at Svalbard, which will act as a "living
Fort Knox".
Although
the vault was designed to protect the
specimens from catastrophic events, he
added that it could also be used to replenish
national seed banks.
"One
example happened in September when a typhoon
ripped through the Philippines and destroyed
its seed bank," Dr Fowler recalled.
"The
storm brought two feet of water and mud
into the bank, and that is the last thing
you want in a seed bank."
Low
maintenance
Once inside the vault, the samples will
be stored at -18C (0F). The length of
time that seeds kept in a frozen state
maintain their ability to germinate depends
on the species.
The
Arctic conditions will help keep the seeds
in a frozen state
Some crops, such as peas, may only survive
for 20-30 years. Others, such as sunflowers
and grain crops, are understood to last
for many decades or even hundreds of years.
Once
the collection has been established at
Svalbard, Dr Fowler said the facility
would operate with very little human intervention.
"Somebody
will go up there once every year to physically
check inside to see that everything is
OK, but there will be no full-time staff,"
he explained.
"If
you design a facility to be used in worst-case
scenarios, then you cannot actually have
too much dependency on human beings."