India deposits rice, wheat seeds in Svalbard Vault

India deposited seeds of two varieties of rice and three varieties of wheat in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault near Longearbyen in Norway on Tuesday

The indigenous rice seed deposited in the vault are IR-36 and IR-64 and that of wheat are Lerma Rojo, Sonoro-64 and Ridley.

The Indian Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Kapil Sibal, upon the invitation of the Norwegian Government visited the Svalbard Global Seed Vault near Longearbyen and deposited Indian rice and wheat seeds.

According to an official press release, Sibal was accompanied by the Director and the Coordinator of the Seed Vault and visited the tunnel. Along with Sibal symbolic deposit of some indigenous seeds was also made by the German Federal Minister of Education and Research, Annette Schavan. This was the first ever visit of any Indian minister to the climatically harsh Arctic region.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault’s declared mission is to provide a safety net against accidental loss of diversity in traditional gene banks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts and natural disasters. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is supposed to be a secure seed-bank located on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near the township of Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago.

Spitsbergen is said to be an ideal location due to the lack of tectonic activity and its permafrost can aid preservation according to some experts. The location 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level can ensure that the site remains dry even if the icecaps melt. Locally mined coal used for power generation to meet the needs of refrigeration units that further cool the seeds to the internationally recommended standard −20 to −30 ?C (0 to −20 ?F). Even if the equipment fails, at least several weeks will elapse before the temperature rises to the −3?C (30 ?F) of the surrounding sandstone bedrock ? the facility has a capacity to conserve 4.5 million.

The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement between the Norwegian government, the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center. The GCDT has played a key role in the planning of the Seed Vault and is coordinating shipments of seed samples to the Vault in conjunction with the Nordic Genetic Resource Center. The Trust will provide most of the annual operating costs for the facility, and has set aside endowment funds to do so, while the Norwegian government will finance upkeep of the structure itself.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided approximately $750,000 to assist developing countries and international agricultural research centers to package and ship seeds to the Seed Vault. An International Advisory Council is being established to provide guidance and advice. It will include representatives from the FAO, the CGIAR, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and other institutions. Construction of the Seed Vault (which cost approximately $9 million) was funded entirely by the Norwegian government. Operational costs will be paid by Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

The primary donors of the Trust are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.K., Norway, Australia, Switzerland and Sweden, though funding has been received from a wide variety of sources including four developing countries: Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, and India. The prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland participated in a ceremonial “laying of the first stone” on June 19, 2006.

Sibal was accorded a warm welcome to the Ny- Alesund island by the Norwegian Minister Tora Aasland. He was one of the keynote speakers at the Ny- Alesund Symposium 2008, with climate change as its main theme. Referring to India’s National Action Plan for Climate Change, Sibal said that there was need for policy makers, scientific experts and the business community to come together and make a global effort to meet the challenges of climate change.