<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=windows-1250">
<TITLE>Work begins on Arctic seed vault</TITLE>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2912" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left> </DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> Sarah Rees
[mailto:sarah@accessenvironmental.com.au] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, 20 June 2006
3:12 PM<BR><B>To:</B> adrian@ecoaction.net.au; Chris Taylor; adam
menary<BR><B>Subject:</B> Work begins on Arctic seed vault<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><FONT size=5><FONT face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 18px"><B>Work begins on Arctic seed
vault<BR></B></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><FONT
color=#666666><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10px"><BR>The Arctic seed
vault will be built into mountain rock<BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT
size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px"><B>Norway is starting construction on a
"doomsday vault" in the Arctic which is designed to house all known varieties of
the world's crops</B>.<BR>Dug into a frozen mountainside on the island of
Svalbard, it is hoped the project will safeguard crop diversity in the event of
a global catastrophe.<BR><BR>More than 100 countries have backed the vault,
which will store seeds, packaged in foil, at sub-zero temperatures.<BR><BR>Prime
Ministers from five nations helped lay the cornerstone on
Monday.<BR><BR>Premiers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland
attended the ceremony near the town of Longyearbyen, in Norway's remote Svalbard
Islands, roughly 1,000 km (620 miles) from the North Po<B>le.<BR><BR>Secure
fac</B>ility<BR><BR>Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told the Norwegian
news agency NTB: "The vault is of international importance. It will be the only
one of its kind; all the other gene banks are of a commercial
nature."<BR><BR><BR>Fenced in and guarded, with steel airlock doors, motion
detectors and polar bears roaming outside - the concrete facility will, its
backers say, be the most secure building of its type in the
world.<BR><BR>Norway's Agriculture Minister Terje Riis-Johansen has called the
vault a "Noah's Ark on Svalbard."<BR><BR>The vault's purpose is to ensure
survival of crop diversity in the event of plant epidemics, nuclear war, natural
disasters or climate change; and to offer the world a chance to restart growth
of food crops that may have been wiped out.<BR><BR>At temperatures of minus 18C
(minus 0.4F), the seeds could last hundreds, even thousands, of years. Even if
all cooling systems failed, explained Mr Riis-Johansen, the temperature in the
frozen mountain would never rise above freezing due to the permafrost on the
moun<B>tainside.<BR><BR>Ultim</B>ate back-up<BR><BR>The Global Crop Diversity
Trust, founded in 2004, will help run the vault, which is planned to open and
start accepting seeds from around the world in September 2007. The bank is
eventually expected to house some three mil</SPAN></FONT><FONT
color=#666666><FONT size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10px">lion
seeds.<BR><BR><BR>This is polar </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT size=4><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">bear country<BR>"This facility will provide a practical
means to re-establish crops obliterated by major disasters," Cary Fowler,
executive secretary of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, said in a
statement.<BR><BR>Fowler, who led a feasibility study on the project, said crop
diversity was also threatened by "accidents, mismanagement, and short-sighted
budget cuts".<BR><BR>Already, some 1,400 seed banks around the world, most of
them national, hold samples of a country's crops. But these banks "can be
affected by shutdowns, natural disasters, war or simply a lack of money," said
Mr Riis-Johansen.<BR><BR>While Norway will own the vault itself, countries
sending seeds will own the material they deposit - much as with a bank
sa</SPAN></FONT></FONT> <BR>
<P><FONT size=2>--<BR>No virus found in this incoming message.<BR>Checked by AVG
Free Edition.<BR>Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.9.1/369 - Release Date:
19/06/2006<BR></FONT></P></BODY></HTML>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>--<BR>
No virus found in this outgoing message.<BR>
Checked by AVG Free Edition.<BR>
Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.9.1/369 - Release Date: 19/06/2006<BR>
</FONT> </P>