Seed Vault Threatened by Real Estate Developers

[bibliophile birds]

Pavlovsk Seed Vault, near St. Petersburg, Russia, is under attack by land developers.

It's hard to imagine a more agriculturally vibrant place than Russia's Pavlovsk Experiment Station near St. Petersburg. The "station," part of the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry, really isn't a laboratory at all it's a global seed vault holding tens of thousands of living, growing plants. As USA Today recently reported, "there are apples from 35 countries, 1,000 varieties of strawberries from 40 countries, black currants from 30 countries, plums from 12 countries and multiple other crops."

If that's not enough to convince you that Pavlovsk needs saving, here's a bit of history that puts the vault's importance into perspective: During the 900-day siege of Leningrad during World War II, 12 scientists starved to death rather than eat the seeds and plants contained in Pavlovsk. You can bet those researchers are rolling over in their graves knowing that the plant varieties they literally gave their lives for may be destroyed for the sake of a few new homes.

What's worse, real estate developers are using a totally lame-o excuse to support their cause, and according to several news outlets, it looks like the Russian court is buying it. Developers argue that because Pavlovsk's worth is described as "priceless," it has no monetary value assigned to it and is therefore worthless. They also said that the plant collection was never officially registered, meaning that officially, it doesn't exist. Sorry, developers, but the tens of thousands of plants sprouting forth from the ground prove that the Pavlovsk Experiment Station is very real. And as for its value ensuring food security is worth, oh, about a million bajillion dollars more than a handful of luxury homes.

Change.com article
petition

 

[ksalvagno]

That is a real shame. I guess the people in the US aren't the only ones who don't understand where their food comes from? I realize this is about money and greed more than anything but still. We do need places to grow our food and places to grow and harvest seeds.

 

[bibliophile birds]

i just really loved the developer's argument that because something is deemed "priceless" is has no value and it therefor worthless. that's seriously creative and diabolical.

 

[Lady Henevere]

Bad news from a later article:

Yesterday, a Russian court declared that the Russian Federal Fund of Residential Real Estate could take over the land currently occupied by the Pavlovsk Experiment Station, a global seed bank. By seed bank, I don't mean a building containing drawers full of seeds. I mean a more than 173-acre area housing tends of thousands of living, growing crops, 90 percent of which aren't found anywhere else in the world. As USA Today recently reported, "there are apples from 35 countries, 1,000 varieties of strawberries from 40 countries, black currants from 30 countries, plums from 12 countries and multiple other crops."

The seed bank is appealing the decision.

 

[bibliophile birds]

yeah, that decision came down a few days ago i believe. the petitions are going to President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin since they have the power to rescind the decision.

 

[SKR8PN]

Someone please explain to me just WHY it is they decided to develop THIS particular area.........
It HAS to be for oil...........or control.
Whoever controls this seed bank, controls our future.

"The seed vault, built to protect the world's food supply in the event of a global crisis, is located on a remote Norwegian island in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago. "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/19/global-seed-vault-nationa_n_616316.html

 

[me&thegals]

That is such a terrible, terrible shame. This doesn't just affect Russians, though. Having seed and plant diversity and stock destroyed like this is going to affect all of us.

Does anybody know if/where there are other seed banks such as this one? I have heard of seed banks before, but I hadn't heard of protection of live plants and root stock...

 

[Dace]

Really? a developer is going to take over? How can that happen?

 

[bibliophile birds]

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.

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.

The Civic Chamber, a Russian state institution with a remit to monitor parliament and the government, then sent a telegram to Medvedev to request a formal appeal to protect the collection. And numerous supporters of the research station have made their feelings felt on Twitter (using the #pavlovsk hashtag). On Friday, following a week of lobbying Medvedev tweeted back: "Received the Civic Chamber's appeal over the Pavlov Experimental Station. Gave the instruction for this issue to be scrutinised."

The campaign may have already achieved more than the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation which last year appealed unsuccessfully to the Russian government to include Pavlovsk in the global network of gene banks.

Yesterday, the Crop Diversity Trust, which has been leading western attempts to save the station, urged people to continue to petition the Russian authorities. A statement on the trust's website said: "Over the next four weeks, we will continue our fight to save Pavlovsk, and we need your help. We need to persuade the political authorities of the importance of the irreplaceable crop diversity growing at Pavlovsk station, and request that the judgment be revoked."

from this article published August 16. there seem to have been several articles published since, but no real new developments.