THE UNITED SEEDS

SCIENTIST CARY FOWLER IS COLLECTING SEED SAMPLES IN AN ICY VAULT NEAR SPITSBERGEN. AN INTERVIEW.

Three years ago you opened the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. One day there will be 4.5 million seed samples from around the world stored in this arctic bunker. Why make such a tremendous effort?
It’s necessary because the challenges facing mankind are huge. In recent decades, crop diversity has declined rapidly. Thousands of varieties of wheat, rice, even apples that our ancestors had cultivated since the Neolithic period have virtually died out. They exist only as seed samples in gene banks.

What is behind this decline?
Modern agriculture. There is no question that efficient monocultures and high-yield varieties are agricultural success stories. But that is precisely where the danger lies: We are cultivating only a handful of super-species that deliver the best yield under today’s conditions—and we risk losing all the other varieties.

Where is the problem? There has always been significant fluctuation on the evolutionary stage.
Darwin was right. Evolution ensures the survival of those species that are best suited to their environment. When it comes to crops, however, it is not a matter of natural selection. It is humans who decide which species should survive. And now humans must ensure that the gene pool does not become too small. Evolution is the interaction between diversity and selection. Without diversity, the game is over.

You are warning that we may have to fall back on this seed sooner than we may imagine.
Indeed. Many of the varieties that have almost disappeared could soon be very important to us. Perhaps because of their heat tolerance, or for some other quality we are not even aware of at present. The commonly cultivated varieties of rice, for example, unfold their blossoms more or less punctually at 11 o’clock in the morning—when the hottest time of day begins. But there are some varieties of wild rice that open at 4 o’clock in the afternoon or 11 o’clock at night. These varieties have a biological clock that allows them to avoid the heat. That could potentially be the key to our survival one day.

How so?
Remember the heat wave of 2003? The harvests that year fell by up to 25 percent! The worrying thing is, if you consider 2003 in the light of the forecast for 2°C global warming, it appears to be a relatively moderate year. We will be experiencing much hotter years in future. And we know that today’s crops are not equipped to cope with that. A backup copy of our agricultural diversity is the best life insurance policy we could possibly have.

For that to work, it is not just a matter of storing the millions of seeds, but of knowing what they are good for.
That’s right. Conservation is one thing. Making use of this genetic treasure trove is quite another. That is a matter for the seed banks. Their scientists must experiment with the seeds that exist to discover what benefits they might offer. There are hundreds of banks worldwide, and they will be busy for many generations to come.

Why then the Seed Vault? The seed banks have their own stocks.
True, the Seed Vault is just another storeroom. But it is the world’s most secure storeroom: A tunnel almost 120 meters in length, chilled to – 18°C and sealed with several steel doors. Outside there are polar bears. If the power should ever fail, the temperature of the vault would still never exceed -3°C due to the permafrost. Every gene bank in the world is invited to archive backup copies of its seed stocks in the vault, free of charge. There is strong demand, because the banks in the USA, Germany and above all in developing countries are aware that their treasures could go up in flames at any time, or be destroyed in an earthquake, or—as happened early this year in Egypt—be looted. If that were to happen, it would be like destroying a Picasso or a Van Gogh: a final, inestimable loss.

How full is the refrigerator now?
We have archived over 600,000 seed samples. I will be traveling to Spitsbergen next week to receive another 30,000 samples, deliveries from Syria, India and Colombia. The first shipment from Australia is coming too.

Even the biggest refrigerator cannot freeze time. How do you intend to make sure the seeds you are storing will still be usable in a thousand years?
In the past sixty or seventy years we have amassed a great deal of knowledge about deep-freezing seeds. We know approximately how long most varieties will keep under these conditions. In addition, every few decades the samples will be tested by their gene banks. If only a certain percentage of the seeds germinate, this variety will be cultivated in order to produce fresh seeds. It would be a misunderstanding to assume that we could simply ship seeds from all the world to Spitsbergen, close the door and come back a thousand years later. We must keep a constant eye on the samples and replace them as necessary. The vault is like a living being. There is constant movement, a kind of metabolism.

How much does this backup system cost?
The cost of designing and building the vault came to USD 9 million, all of which was paid by the Norwegian government. The operating costs of the vault, transportation and the work of the gene banks are in the low double-digit millions. These costs are covered mainly by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Once the vault is full, the costs will decline substantially. Sorghum millet seeds, for example, only have to be replaced every 20,000 years. That is a manageable expense.

The timescale you have to employ to think about this project is mind-boggling for an outsider.
Not only for outsiders. The Seed Vault is something that transcends day-to-day problems. I can barely describe to you how it feels to go down into the tunnel.

Could you try?
Well… the feeling far exceeds the moment when after years of long, hard work I was presented with my doctorate. It’s a heady sensation to become a doctor—at least for a short while. But the next morning you wake up and think, so what? It soon passes. But the Seed Vault is something entirely different. Through long, hard work we have created something which—measured by human standards—will last for an eternity. Believe me, down there in the cold, in the neon-lit vault, I have spent some of the happiest moments of my life.

You sound as though you have a very emotional relationship with your work.
I do indeed! I love my work. So much so, that I don’t need an alarm clock to wake up on time each morning.

You mean, you wake up each day at the same time? Like a rice plant?
Even better: sometimes I wake up earlier, sometimes later. Depending on what’s happening each day.

Text: Markus Wanzeck, Photos: Mari Tefre - Global Crop Diversity Trust, Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 2/2011