Hope for Pavlovsk Seed Vault and the Future of Food

Last week, Change.org brought encouraging news that Russian real estate developers postponed an auction of Pavlovsk Experiment Station, a global seed vault holding thousands of rare, living plants. This week, the invaluable seed bank comes even closer to conservation.

The Russian Housing Development Foundation (RZhS) recently announced that it would postpone the sale of one section of the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry's Pavlovsk Experiment Station, offering it a temporary "reprieve." Pavlovsk is divided up into two sections, one that holds forages, or plants that livestock feed on, and one that houses fruits and berries. The "reprieve" applies to the forages section, and pending a scientific review, RzhS says it may give Pavlovsk an extra five-to-seven years to move the forages collection to another location.

While the gesture is certainly a step in the right direction, environmentalists, scientists, and sustainable foodies won't be content until Pavlovsk is saved in its entirety in its current location. Pavlovsk's fruit and berries section is actually the more important of the two, holding more than 1,000 varieties of strawberries alone. In total, the station contains more than 6,000 varieties of fruits, berries, grasses, and grains, 90 percent of which aren't found anywhere else in the world. Scientists rely heavily on this diverse collection of rare crops to create new varieties, a crucial task as development and climate change continue to alter the world's agricultural landscape. Plowing down any section of Pavlovsk seed bank — even if it's just a tiny, little corner — in order to build luxury apartments would be a crime against global food security.

RZhS's compromise comes on the heels of more hopeful news for Pavlovsk. Earlier this week, a group of prominent scientists wrote to President Dmitry Medvedev, asking him to protect the seed vault from development. Because a Russian court ruled a month ago that RZhS could legally take over Pavlovsk Experiment Station and auction off the land to luxury apartment builders, the only two people who can issue an order to save the seed bank are Medvedev or Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Scientists from distinguished organizations like DIVERSITAS, UNESCO, the National Academy of Sciences, the International Society for Horticultural Science, and the U.N. Environment Programme all sent letters directly to Medvedev expressing just how important Pavlovsk is to the future of food security. "The more than 6,000 varieties of fruits, berries, grasses, and grains are the lasing legacy of a collection made painstakingly over the course of 80 years that has survived wars, famines, and droughts to remain where it stands today," one letter read. After surviving the great hardships that it has, it would be a shame to think that luxury apartments would be the death knell for Pavlovsk.

All of these moves toward protection are steps in the right direction, and they're proof that folks' petition signatures, tweets, and Facebook shares are putting the pressure on Medvedev. Take action now, and sign Global Crop Diversity Trust's petition asking the Russian President to conserve this invaluable seed bank.

Photo credit: Pavlovsk Station via Global Crop Diversity Trust