Spring Break
Band-Aids, seeds and genetic diversity
Danya Rumore
Issue date: 2/16/07 Section: Forum
I have been thinking about diversity a lot lately. No, not racial diversity. No, not diversity of sexual preference. No, not even "diversity at OSU" (although I do think that all of these things are important). The diversity that has recently become the focus of much of my angst is genetic diversity, or rather the lack thereof. And frankly, I am becoming just a wee bit worried.
This concern of mine was recently aggravated by the unveiling of the final design for the Svalbard International Seed Vault. Earlier this February, BBC News reported that the Norwegian government will begin construction of a "doomsday" seed vault this March, with plans to complete the $5 million project in 2008. The Svalbard International Seed Bank will house more than 3 million seed samples and, according to BBC News, "aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change."
The seed vault, sequestered in the mountains of the far northern Norwegian island of Svalbard, is considered by many to be a genetic safety net that will protect and preserve existent agricultural biodiversity. The vault will encapsulate seeds from all known varieties of crops with the intent of preserving potentially critical genetic stock. In a rapidly changing world facing climate change and potential water shortages, agricultural biodiversity may soon be invaluable - hence, we have an international seed vault.
So why am I so concerned? If we have a vault, isn't that sufficient? We will preserve seeds from all sorts of different varieties of crops at -18°C (0°F) more than 120m deep within a mountain, and all will be fine and dandy. Right?
I have no qualms about the Norwegians building an international seed preservatory. I actually do think that this vault has potential to be a good thing. What worries me is that the Svalbard International Seed Bank is a Band-Aid for a global wound that is not being addressed. The world (this nation in particular) rapidly gravitates toward homogenization and monoculture. We are losing crop diversity like a middle-aged man loses hair (no offense, guys) and this has potentially dire implications for the world's agricultural system and food supply. The international seed preservatory simply belies an underlying problem that may fester and rot into an international catastrophe if not attended to.
Take, for example, India. During the past 50 years, farmers in India have planted more than 30,000 different varieties of rice. It is predicted that a meager 10 varieties now make up 75 percent of India's rice crop, a reduction in crop diversity largely due to the developments of the Green Revolution.
In the U.S., 90 percent of the crop varieties grown 100 years ago are no longer available in commercial production or maintained in major seed storage facilities. This may be a result of breeding efforts and genetic modification as well as a national (or should I say global) trend toward homogeneity and monoculture. Whatever the cause, it is evident that crop genetic diversity is rapidly declining, and with its descent it appears that we may be losing our global genetic "safety net."
In diversity exists an inherent defense against destruction and disaster. Species with broad and distinct genetic variations tend to be stabler and more adaptable than species with less genetic variability. Cheetahs, for example, are currently more at threat due to genetic bottle-necking (meaning a serious historic squeeze on their genetic diversity, likely due to a "natural" disaster, that has left them with little or no genetic variability) than they are at threat due to limited numbers. If a species is genetically generic, it only takes one epidemic, one virus, one parasite to wipe the entire species off the face of the earth. What happened to cheetahs as a matter of bad fortune we are now intentionally doing to many of our food crops. If history has anything to tell us, it is that this does not bode well for human sustainability.
The development of an international seed vault provides a means for preserving critical genetic diversity, and as I mentioned before, it's a good thing. (Do I sound like Martha Stewart?) But I argue that above and beyond investing millions of dollars into some intense and complex architectural feat known as a seed vault, maybe we should invest some time and energy into actually cultivating diversity. Perhaps propagating diversity rather than sequestering it would improve our adaptability as a global culture. It seems possible that the monoculture that so enamors us really isn't as promising as it seems.
(Did you know that year-to-year fluctuations in crop yields have actually generally increased due to the introduction of homogeneous Green Revolution varieties of crops? This means that, perhaps counter-intuitively, monoculture has actually made our food supply more volatile. Interesting, yes?)
Many scientists and politicians argue that the international seed vault will protect agricultural diversity against disasters such as asteroids and nuclear war. I argue that if we engage in nuclear war or if the earth is hit by a big enough asteroid to be of concern, we are going to have bigger issues to worry about (such as an ice age caused by increased aerosols in the stratosphere). But declining genetic diversity is of critical and imminent concern, and it can no longer be ignored.
The time has come for us to stop playing with Band-Aids and to actually attempt to heal the ecological and social wounds we have created.
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Danya Rumore is a senior in environmental science. The opinions expressed in her column do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Daily Barometer staff. Rumore can be reached at forum@dailybarometer.com.
This concern of mine was recently aggravated by the unveiling of the final design for the Svalbard International Seed Vault. Earlier this February, BBC News reported that the Norwegian government will begin construction of a "doomsday" seed vault this March, with plans to complete the $5 million project in 2008. The Svalbard International Seed Bank will house more than 3 million seed samples and, according to BBC News, "aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change."
The seed vault, sequestered in the mountains of the far northern Norwegian island of Svalbard, is considered by many to be a genetic safety net that will protect and preserve existent agricultural biodiversity. The vault will encapsulate seeds from all known varieties of crops with the intent of preserving potentially critical genetic stock. In a rapidly changing world facing climate change and potential water shortages, agricultural biodiversity may soon be invaluable - hence, we have an international seed vault.
So why am I so concerned? If we have a vault, isn't that sufficient? We will preserve seeds from all sorts of different varieties of crops at -18°C (0°F) more than 120m deep within a mountain, and all will be fine and dandy. Right?
I have no qualms about the Norwegians building an international seed preservatory. I actually do think that this vault has potential to be a good thing. What worries me is that the Svalbard International Seed Bank is a Band-Aid for a global wound that is not being addressed. The world (this nation in particular) rapidly gravitates toward homogenization and monoculture. We are losing crop diversity like a middle-aged man loses hair (no offense, guys) and this has potentially dire implications for the world's agricultural system and food supply. The international seed preservatory simply belies an underlying problem that may fester and rot into an international catastrophe if not attended to.
Take, for example, India. During the past 50 years, farmers in India have planted more than 30,000 different varieties of rice. It is predicted that a meager 10 varieties now make up 75 percent of India's rice crop, a reduction in crop diversity largely due to the developments of the Green Revolution.
In the U.S., 90 percent of the crop varieties grown 100 years ago are no longer available in commercial production or maintained in major seed storage facilities. This may be a result of breeding efforts and genetic modification as well as a national (or should I say global) trend toward homogeneity and monoculture. Whatever the cause, it is evident that crop genetic diversity is rapidly declining, and with its descent it appears that we may be losing our global genetic "safety net."
In diversity exists an inherent defense against destruction and disaster. Species with broad and distinct genetic variations tend to be stabler and more adaptable than species with less genetic variability. Cheetahs, for example, are currently more at threat due to genetic bottle-necking (meaning a serious historic squeeze on their genetic diversity, likely due to a "natural" disaster, that has left them with little or no genetic variability) than they are at threat due to limited numbers. If a species is genetically generic, it only takes one epidemic, one virus, one parasite to wipe the entire species off the face of the earth. What happened to cheetahs as a matter of bad fortune we are now intentionally doing to many of our food crops. If history has anything to tell us, it is that this does not bode well for human sustainability.
The development of an international seed vault provides a means for preserving critical genetic diversity, and as I mentioned before, it's a good thing. (Do I sound like Martha Stewart?) But I argue that above and beyond investing millions of dollars into some intense and complex architectural feat known as a seed vault, maybe we should invest some time and energy into actually cultivating diversity. Perhaps propagating diversity rather than sequestering it would improve our adaptability as a global culture. It seems possible that the monoculture that so enamors us really isn't as promising as it seems.
(Did you know that year-to-year fluctuations in crop yields have actually generally increased due to the introduction of homogeneous Green Revolution varieties of crops? This means that, perhaps counter-intuitively, monoculture has actually made our food supply more volatile. Interesting, yes?)
Many scientists and politicians argue that the international seed vault will protect agricultural diversity against disasters such as asteroids and nuclear war. I argue that if we engage in nuclear war or if the earth is hit by a big enough asteroid to be of concern, we are going to have bigger issues to worry about (such as an ice age caused by increased aerosols in the stratosphere). But declining genetic diversity is of critical and imminent concern, and it can no longer be ignored.
The time has come for us to stop playing with Band-Aids and to actually attempt to heal the ecological and social wounds we have created.
Danya Rumore is a senior in environmental science. The opinions expressed in her column do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Daily Barometer staff. Rumore can be reached at forum@dailybarometer.com.
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