The Svalboard Global Seed Vault is a very simple, very interesting building. It was designed by Peter Wilelm Soderman of Barlindhaug Consult AS and was completed in 2008 on a remote Norwegian island in the 
The purpose of the Vault is to preserve species of crops and save them from extinction. Every day many different species are lost, leading to rapidly diminishing biodiversity on Earth. The Vault prevents total wipe-outs of species. It’s also a sort of “back-up plan” for the world. Should an extreme natural or man-made disaster strike and wipe out crops regionally or even globally, the seeds from the Vault would be able to restart farming. In case of an equipment failure, temperatures would take months to reach, and would never rise above -3.5°C, as the vault is dug into permafrost. Even if the absolute worst global warming predictions were to come true, the Vault’s contents would remain naturally frozen for over 200 years, preserving seeds.
In the case of an emergency, the Vault ensures that future generations have access to the crops of today. One day, the Svalboard Global Seed Vault could turn out to be the means of survival for the entire human race, but hopefully we will never need to use it.
The Vault also protects seeds which are being exploited by large corporations such as Monsanto. These corporations have placed patents on heirloom crops and have genetically modified them in order to ensure that they are infertile “Terminator” seeds. The poor farmers who use them must purchase new seeds every season. This capitalistic approach to farming is extremely unsustainable. It has already led to starvation in
Perhaps then the solution is to avoid large factory farms and concentrate on small, diverse, urban agricultural systems (see The Logistics of a Sustainable Slum) These systems would incorporate models of rooftop farms, community co-ops and balcony gardens, would reduce the demand for large, capitalist farms. This self-sufficient approach to farming would also create a sense of awareness for the public so that people living in urban areas would know exactly where their food came from and how it was grown. Presently there is a detachment between the image portrayed by consumer-friendly foods that can be purchased in grocery stores in the developed world and how these foods are actually prepared. If more people knew just how the food they were eating was produced, they would not buy it.
Many corporations have worked hard to maintain the impression that their products are grown on farms rather than produced in factories. Governments of developing nations have been forced to accept World Trade Organization rules, in which they must allow genetically engineered crops to be produced in their countries. Non-Government Organizations must take charge of seed distribution, especially for non-genetically modified crops.
With the assistance of NGOs, models could be implemented in order to design urban agricultural systems that would no longer depend on commercial farms, but instead would rely on the self-sufficiency of the communities in which they would be applied. These systems should also incorporate architecture that is already present in the areas such as creating rooftop farms, as well as new projects and ideas (such as vertical farms - see Dennis Tang's The Tower that Lives) that would maximize the efficiency and minimize the economic and environmental costs of sustainable urban agriculture. Sources:
"A Bridge Too Far." http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto-s-seeds-of-destructio (accessed November 3, 2009).
"Global Crop Diversity Trust." http://www.croptrust.org/main/ (accessed November 3, 2009).
"ICARDA." http://www.icarda.org/ (accessed November 3, 2009).
"Svalbard Global Seed Vault." http://www.croptrust.org/main/arcticseedvault.php?itemid=211 (accessed November 3, 2009).
"The Planet's Ultimate Backup Plan." http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882288,00.html (accessed November 3, 2009).
Posted by: Katherine Kovalcik (#2)
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