In Russia, World's Oldest Seed Bank Faces Destruction Thanks To Private Housing Project - Guardian

[hatrack]

The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, has ordered an immediate inquiry into the potential destruction of the world's oldest seed bank following a court case and a Twitter campaign by Guardian readers and others.

The fate of the station appeared to be sealed last week when a court ruled in favour of the Pavlovsk research station and its surrounding farmland being turned into private housing. It holds the world's largest fruit collections and was protected by 12 Russian scientists during the second world war who chose to starve to death rather than eat the unique collection of seeds and plants which they were guarding during the 900-day siege of Leningrad.

More than 90% of the plants are found in no other research collection or seed bank. Its seeds and berries are thought to posess traits that could be crucial to maintaining productive fruit harvests in many parts of the world as climate change and a rising tide of disease, pests and drought weaken the varieties farmers now grow. At stake, say campaigners for the station, are more than 5,000 varieties of seeds and berries from dozens of countries, including more than 100 varieties each of gooseberries and raspberries.

As it is predominantly a field collection, Pavlovsk cannot be moved. Experts estimate that even if another site were available nearby, it would take many years to relocate the plants. The court ruling was instantly appealed, giving the station one month before development plans for a housing estate that would destroy the station can move forward. This judgment means the order can only be revoked through a direct command of the president or prime minister, Vladimir Putin.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/16/russia-president-pavolvsk-twitter

[Laughing Mirror]

1. Thanks!

[pscot]

2. Shouldn't the UN be able to

offer some protection in the form of a or critical resource designation?

[NickB79]

3. You can't even save seed from the fruit trees and shrubs

They only come true from grafted scionwood, so the only way to save them is to graft thousands of new saplings.

[Duer 157099]

4. Imagine the moral conflict those dozens of scientists felt!

I can barely imagine anything so agonizing, having "food" available to prevent starvation but yet knowing that there is so much more benefit, long-term, to their society by instead preserving the plants.

If a time traveller from the future would have arrived on the farm during the Siege of Leningrad and told those scientists that the whole place would be plowed under in less than 100 years... would that have changed the actions of those scientists I wonder?

Fascinating to think about. Tragedy of the very worst kind.

[NickB79]

5. Oh God, I didn't even realize this was THAT seed bank!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100808212810.htm

"During the Siege of Leningrad in World War II, 12 Russian scientists starved to death while protecting the diversity amassed by Vavilov, even though the seeds of rice, peas, corn, and wheat that they were protecting could have easily sustained them."

[hatrack]

6. Yes, but think of the developers! What about their profit margins? Will no one weep for them?

What about THE MONEY?

[Nihil]

7. I'm surprised that it isn't preserved as a monument for that reason.

Guess "history" isn't important either and will soon be consigned to
the scrapheap (alongside "science" and "common sense").
:-(