The Svalbard International Seed Vault is
named for the Norwegian islands where
the mountain is located, nearly 1,000
kilometers north of mainland Norway.
Cary Fowler heads the Global Crop
Diversity Trust, a U.N. sponsored
organization that has promoted the
project and will help run the arctic
vault. He says fail-safe measures are
built into the seed bank design. "There
will be about a 120 meter long corridor
or tunnel leading through solid rock
back to the vaults themselves. And it's
really going to look quite a lot like a
bank vault. There will be shelves and
boxes and in each box about 400 or 500
samples of seeds."
The chambers can accommodate 3 million
seed samples, which must be carefully
frozen to remain viable for long periods
of time. Fowler says the site was chosen
in part because it is covered by
permafrost, a perpetually frozen layer
of earth. "If the refrigeration units
fail, it will take months, maybe years
for the temperature to rise even to
minus 6 degrees [centigrade] level,
which is just fine for most seeds."
Designers have also accounted for
potential effects of global warming. The
vault, situated 130 meters above sea
level, is safely above the seven-meter
rise in sea level predicted should the
Greenland ice sheet melt and even the
61-meter rise that could accompany the
unlikely meltdown of Antarctica.
Fowler says the remote vault will have
workers on site, but will also be
electronically monitored. He jokes that
wildlife will help out with security.
"Polar bears are ubiquitous in this part
of Svalbard. So, anyone going up there
to do something untoward [unfavorable]
to the seed vault will have to take that
into consideration."
The Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations lists 1400 seed banks
worldwide, ranging in size from a single
seed to a U.S. collection with 464,000
different samples.
Many are threatened by funding and
management problems and even subject to
natural disasters, wars and civil
strife. Fowler says the arctic vault
offers a safety net in the face of
environmental uncertainties. "If one is
concerned, for example, about climate
change and how human beings are going to
adapt to climate change, if you are
concerned about water constraints or
energy constraints, then you have to be
concerned about crop diversity because
without this crop diversity agriculture
will not be able to adapt to climate
change, will not be able to produce food
to feed growing populations with water
and energy supplies."
The Svalbard International Seed Vault is
expected to open its doors in September
of this year to begin its unique
conservation mission, receiving samples
of important crop seed from every
country on earth. |
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挪威政府在挪威大陆以北1000公里处的北冰洋斯瓦尔巴群岛建造的种子贮存库命名为斯瓦尔巴全球种子库。
这项工程得到了联合国粮农组织的支持。发起和管理这项计划的全球农作物多样化信托基金的总裁卡里.福勒说，这个贮藏库中设计了自动防故障系统。他说：“有一条穿过坚硬磐石的长120米的通道，通向这个贮藏库。这里看起来很像银行的金库。设有架子和特制的盒子，每个盒子中将保存大约四五百种种子。”
这个贮藏库建造在永久冻土带的地下，能保存300万种作物种子，种子会冰冻在摄氏零下10度到零下20度之间。福勒说：“这样就能够长久的保存种子。我们将会进一步把温度调低到最适宜的程度。如果冷冻系统失灵，由于种子库有永冻层的覆盖，库内温度要几个月、甚至几年的时间，才会上升到零下6摄氏度的水平，而这个温度对保存大多数种子来说也是适宜的。”
种子库的设计者还考虑到全球气候变暖的影响。该贮存库建在高于海平面130米的地方。如果格陵兰地区的冰川融化，海平面将升高7米，就算南极的冰帽融化使海平面上升61米，这个种子库也是安全的。而实际上南极的冰帽也不可能全部融化。
福勒说，这个地处偏远的种子库会有员工驻守，也会有电子监控设备。他打趣说，那里有野生动物充当义务保安人员。斯瓦尔巴岛上常常有北极熊出没，想去种子库干坏事的人不得不考虑这一点。
联合国粮农组织列出的全世界的种子库有1400个，规模大小不一，其中有保存单一品种的种子库，也有美国的46万4千种种子的贮藏库。
其中很多种子库项目因为经费和管理的问题岌岌可危，甚至遭受自然灾害和战争的破坏。福勒形容北极的斯瓦尔巴种子库是全球种子的诺亚方舟。这个仓库是为了收藏全世界的粮食种子，纵使发生环境浩劫，也保证仍有种子供应全人类。福勒说：“如果人们担心全球气候变化以及人类如何来适应这种变化，如果担心水资源短缺或能源紧张，那么就不得不担心农作物多样化的问题。因为假如没有多样化的农作物，农业生产就不能适应气候变化，就不能有足够的粮食来满足日益增长的人口需要，以及保证水和能源的供应。因此，充足的粮食供应对于解决地球上的每一个关键问题是非常重要的。”
预计斯瓦尔巴全球种子库将于今年9月建成，并接受来自世界各国的重要种子，开始进行其独特的使命。 |
