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Syria seeds from doomsday vault1/13/2024 "This is a rescue mission these seeds cannot be replaced" said ICARA representative Thanos Tsivelikas, who is overseeing the withdrawal from the vault. ICARDA needs to reconstruct its collection of genetic material stocks since it can no longer access its own vault in Aleppo and plant the lands around it.Īnd that is where the war in Syria connects to a remote seed vault in the Arctic. In this part of the world, many of the important crops were domesticated from the wild to cultivation." "And this is where the cradle of agriculture 10,000 years ago. "These are land races that were inherited from our grand-grand-parents, most of them are unfortunately extinct now," ICARDA Director General Mahmoud El-Solh said. ICARDA's gene bank in Aleppo, one of the most important in the world, includes more than 135,000 varieties of wheat, fava bean, lentil and chickpea crops, as well as the world's most valuable barley collection. The gene bank in Aleppo, run by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, or ICARDA, houses an important collection of seeds gathered from around the Fertile Crescent and beyond. An important storehouse in the Fertile Crescent In the midst of one of the most congested areas in Aleppo sits a treasure trove of food crop genetic material made inaccessible by war. Rather, it was because of the most preventable of manmade disasters - war.ĭeath, devastation and unimaginable brutality have become the hallmark of the bitter civil war ravaging Syria. Coined the "Doomsday Vault," this bank operated by the Norwegian government is meant to be humanity's back-up in the event of a devastating catastrophe that decimates crops.īut that was not what caused scientists to have to dip in and make a withdrawal. Humanity has had to cash in on its insurance policy earlier than expected.ĭeep in the side of a mountain in the Arctic Archipelago is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
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