85 year old Russian seed bank faces destruction

[Mayabird]

So there's been talk about making big seed banks in case of disaster/emergency/whatever. There's already one that's 85 years old that even has a tragic and heroic story with it. So let's destroy it for short term gain!

Pavlovsk seed bank faces destruction

'Priceless collection' in Russia was never registered so is therefore worthless and does not officially exist, say developers


* John Vidal, environment editor
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 8 August 2010 18.44 BST
* Article history

Twelve Russian scientists famously chose to starve to death rather than eat the unique collection of seeds and plants they were protecting for humanity during the 900-day siege of Leningrad in the second world war. But the world's first global seed bank now faces destruction once more, to make way for a private housing estate.

The fate of the Pavlovsk agricultural station outside St Petersburg will be decided in the courts this week. If, as expected, the case goes against it then the collection of plants built up over 85 years could be destroyed within months.

At stake, say Russian and British campaigners for the station, is not just scientific history but one of the world's largest collection of strawberries, blackcurrants, apples and cherries. Pavlovsk contains more than 5,000 varieties of seeds and berries from dozens of countries, including more than 100 varieties each of gooseberries and raspberries.

More than 90% of the plants are found in no other research collection or seed bank. Its seeds and berries are thought to possess 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. 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.

In what appears Kafkaesque logic, the property developers argue that because the station contains a "priceless collection", no monetary value can be assigned to it and so it is worthless. In another nod to Kafka, the government's federal fund of residential real estate development has argued that the collection was never registered and thus does not officially exist.

"It is a bitter irony that the single most deliberately destructive act against crop diversity could be about to happen in the country that invented the modern seed bank," said Cary Fowler, of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. "Russia taught the world about the importance of crop collections for the future of agriculture. A decision to destroy Pavlovsk would forever tarnish a cause that generations of Russian plant scientists have lived and, quite literally, died, to protect."

The station was established in 1926 by Nikolai Vavilov, the man credited with creating the idea of seed banks as repositories of plant diversity that could be used to breed new varieties in response to threats to food production. During the siege of Leningrad, 12 scientists chose to starve while protecting the diversity amassed by Vavilov, even though the seeds of rice, peas, corn and wheat that they were protecting could have sustained them. Vavilov died of malnutrition in prison in 1943, having criticised the anti-genetic concepts of Trofim Lysenko. But Russia has since elevated him to hero status.

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[Anguirus]

But that's not.

You can't.

Why would that even.

FUCK EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING.

[Molyneux]

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
I really can't think of anything else to say. It has a heroic history, it has great and obvious worth in case of disaster, and the fucking judges are expected to greenlight its destruction?

All I can do is hope that the sheer idiocy of doing so makes itself apparent before they can do something irreversible and sad.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
I really can't think of anything else to say. It has a heroic history, it has great and obvious worth in case of disaster, and the fucking judges are expected to greenlight its destruction?

All I can do is hope that the sheer idiocy of doing so makes itself apparent before they can do something irreversible and sad.

Nope. Judges already bribed. This is Russia we are talking about.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
I really can't think of anything else to say. It has a heroic history, it has great and obvious worth in case of disaster, and the fucking judges are expected to greenlight its destruction?

All I can do is hope that the sheer idiocy of doing so makes itself apparent before they can do something irreversible and sad.

Nope. Judges already bribed. This is Russia we are talking about.

Yep. Unless someone from Moscow intervenes, it's a done deal. However, with the publicity going on it's possible that someone who is sufficiently high up will notice. We will never hear about it though, because they will just call the judges, who then suddenly become unbribed...

[Chris OFarrell]

Come on action man Putin! Storm up to these fuckers, throw down a pen and paper and tell them to fucking sign away any intention, claim or right to in any way harm this most priceless resource.

[Aaron]

So by field collection do they mean its made up of planted plants?

[PaperJack]

how about we burn moscow's most sacred icons ?
they are considered priceless, therefore worthless

[fgalkin]

Considering St. Petersburg itself is under risk of losing it's UNESCO world heritage site status due to its impending rape by the glass penis of Gazprom, I am not at all surprised by this development. Disgusted? Hell, yes, but not surprised. That, and I hope the people responsible are locked in a room and left to starve to death.

how about we burn moscow's most sacred icons ?
they are considered priceless, therefore worthless

It doesn't help that in Russian, "priceless" and "worthless" are the same word (бесценный).

And they just lost the court hearing. They are now sending a telegram to the President (probably hoping that the Vegetable feels solidarity with his Pavlovsk brethren). If that fails, it's gone.

Incidentally, it really is priceless. It's value is estimated to be around $10 trillion.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Stark]

Can't the world seed diversity guys just buy it? The seeds especially should be pretty portable. Why does destroying the building mean necessarily destroying what it contains?

[Simon_Jester]

I think the problem is the sheer size of the collection, as much as anything else. Not sure, though.

[Stark]

I don't know anything about seed banks, so maybe you need xyz kilos of a seed to be viable, so there's no point keeping 500g of each different type. That'd add up pretty fast.

[The Spartan]

I don't know anything about seed banks, so maybe you need xyz kilos of a seed to be viable, so there's no point keeping 500g of each different type. That'd add up pretty fast.

I think it might be what Aaron asked earlier:

So by field collection do they mean its made up of planted plants?

Assuming that it's that, well, that's a lot of plants to try and transplant.

And I think it is. From the article:

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.

Emphasis added.

[LionElJonson]

Let's hope Mr. Russian President intervenes on the side of the seed bank. It'd be a bit sad if this went through.

[Molyneux]

Seething with rage...it's a goddamned shame that this is half a world away from me, or I would be ringing phones off the hook to try to affect this in any way I could.

[PeZook]

I don't know anything about seed banks, so maybe you need xyz kilos of a seed to be viable, so there's no point keeping 500g of each different type. That'd add up pretty fast.

Most of those fruits are stored as plants in the ground because they can't be stored long-term as seeds. It's just not feasible.

This is a horrifying act of devastiation. And the ethical bankrupcy of the people involved is simply staggering: the collection is priceless, therefore worthless? It hasn't been registered, therefore it should be destroyed?

The guys who starved to death in there should've just went "fuck this" and eaten all the goddamned berries, since their descendants are obviously too greedy and short-sighted to appreciate that sacrifice.

[Stark]

Oh, so it's like a farm or botantical garden or something? You'd seriously think that would be protected. I imagined a kind of seed... bank... lol.

[Broomstick]

Even seed banks that keep their seeds in deep freeze need to plant a certain portion of them to monitor viability and keep the stock viable.

[hongi]

No no no!

Get over yourselves you greedy pigs, think for once in your life beyond your short term gains and realise the immense social and scientific good that this seed bank represents for all humanity. Mr Putin, you need to intervene.

[Anguirus]

This is making me sick.

[Tornado Ninja Fan]

Here is an international petition asking the Russian president to save the vault that you can join.

[Temujin]

Signed it.

And on the petition page it states:

August 13--President Medvedev has just announced, via Twitter, that he will be looking into the details of the Pavlovsk Station case. We have already collected over 2,700 signatures, and we now have proof they are being noticed in the Kremlin! Please continue to spread the word and sign the petition!

[fgalkin]

I doubt it has anything to do with the petition. Rather, he was also asked by the Civic Chamber of Russia to look into the matter.

In fact, he even says so

Received the Civic Chamber's appeal over the Pavlov Experimental Station. Gave the instruction for this issue to be scrutinised.

I'm not sure how they go from that to "We have already collected over 2,700 signatures, and we now have proof they are being noticed in the Kremlin!"

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Broomstick]

Hope springs eternal in the optimist heart, what can I say?

The problem is that the average person is short-sighted and focused on immediate gratification. So a developer has a means to make money and sees "just" a field or a farm like any other. There are lots of other farms, so what does this one matter? Apples? Cherries? But you can get those anywhere! What's so special about these? They don't look special. If this is a really important place wouldn't there be some sign or indication of it? If it was that important wouldn't there be some official recognition?

The average person just don't know or understand or care about seed banks.

[Temujin]

I'm just glad to hear it's reached Medvedev's attention, irregardless of how.