GREEN-IT member Ana Maria Barata visits Global Seed Vault, in Svalbard
In the Arctic Ocean, Svalbard marks 1ºC A big difference from the 25ºC felt in sunny Lisbon, that GREEN-IT member and coordinator of the Portuguese Plant Germplasm Bank Ana Maria Barata has left behind. For the next few days, Ana Maria Barata is at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault for the international advisory panel (IAP) meeting, of which she is a member.
With its cold climate and permafrost, Svalbard offers the perfect location for underground storage. In its vault, there are 1 165 041 samples of seed varieties from around the globe, to provide insurance against both incremental and catastrophic loss of crop diversity held in traditional gene banks. Carved 120 meters into the rock, the vault assures the rooms will remain naturally frozen even in the case of failure of the mechanical cooling systems and rising external air temperatures, due to climate change.
The panel that represents genebanks, plant breeders, state officials, and others in the field of plant genetic resources will be under the waning Svalbard sun from October 11 to 13. The members that make up the panel are appointed for one year at a time, with the mission of giving advice and recommendations regarding the operations of the Seed Vault.
“This year’s panel is constituted by me, Ana Maria Barata of INIAV, Lavern Gueco of the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Axel Diederichsen of Plant Gene Resources Canada, Stefanos Fotiou and Kent Nnadozie of FAO, Marie-Noelle Ndjiondjop of AfricaRice, Stefan Schmitz and Janny van Beem of Crop Trust, Grethe Evjen and Geir Daholt from Norway Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Åsmund Asdal of NordGen, Lise Lykke Steffensen of NordGen IAP Secretary, and Josefin Granö NordGen Secretary” informs Ana Maria Barata.
While in Svalbard, the members of the IAP will be acquainted with the facilities, so they can evaluate the conservation conditions. “For me, this meeting will be crucial to comprehend the operations and funding of this structure in detail”, says Ana Maria Barata. Under discussion and assessment during the meeting are the current rules in place at the global seed vault, as well as the ongoing activities. The Global Seed Vault is involved in a project to study and understand seed longevity from different species, that have been multiplied for three years in several countries of the world and, ensure the preservation of valuable information through film strips that hold information on seed identity.
