Gardiner says North Pole Seed Bank is another sign that significant Climate Change is likely
Ulster Unionist Environment Spokesman, Sam Gardiner MLA, has said that the setting up of a world seed conservation bank in a mountain cave close to the North Pole on the Svalbard Islands was another indicator that massive climate change was anticipated.
“A doomsday vault has been carved into a frozen mountainside in the archipelago of Svalbard, a few hundred miles from the North Pole. Over the next few weeks, the huge cavern - backed by the Norwegian government and the Bill Gates Foundation - will have more than a million types of seed deposited in it. It will be officially opened in February next year.”
“The Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust which is building the vault plans to preserve old strains of crop which are likely to be needed as climate change kicks in and makes it impossible to grow existing new strains in affected areas.”
“The site, close to the North Pole, was chosen so that it did not matter if refrigeration equipment failed. There are three vaults and scientists have been cooling the inside to the -16degres necessary. Many of the older varieties stored there are less productive than new strains of crop but are much hardier and resistant to climate change.”
“This is another sign that key organisations are preparing for significant climate change. This seed project could prove vital to counteract starvation if new crop varieties fail.”