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 As
the first anniversary of the inauguration of the Svalvard
Global Seed Vault (Norway) draws near, CIAT has made a second
shipment of duplicate seeds of beans and tropical forages
to this fortress built on a remote archipelago near the North
Pole to safeguard the world's most important food crops in
case of any catastrophe.
On this occasion 3,200 materials of beans (2,114)
and tropical forages (1,086) were dispatched in compliance
with the strict measures of preparation and shipment that
a cargo of this nature implies. Last year a first shipment
of 30,912 accessions was sent, consisting of 21,699 materials
of beans and 9,213 of tropical forages.
"Svalvard is a deposit, and does not replace
germplasm banks", explained Daniel Debouck, head of the
Center's Genetic Resources Unit, and responsible for this
endeavor. "There, a duplicate of the materials is conserved
as an additional guarantee to the food security of the nations
of the world."
This polar fortress, popularly christened as
Noah's Ark, is buried 10 meters deep in the sandstone mountain
surrounding the vault, which is located at the end of a 120-meter
tunnel. The temperature is a constant -18 degrees centigrade.
Its official inauguration was on 26 February 2008.
It is important to highlight that CIAT conserves
the largest, most diverse collections in the world of beans
(35,898 materials), tropical grasses (23,140 materials), and
cassava (6,467 materials). This heritage of currently 65,505
materials comes from 141 countries.
CIAT, under an agreement with FAO, distributes
samples of these collections according to the norms defined
by each country. In 30 years of operation, CIAT has distributed
more than half a million samples.
Contact: Dr. Daniel G. Debouck (d.debouck@cgiar.org),
Director, Genetic Resources Unit, CIAT. Phone: +57 (2) 4450000
(ext. 3039), Cali, Colombia.
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