Genebanks

September 9, 2010February 1, 2018

A Pavlovsk lifeline

You’ll remember that the Russian Housing Development Foundation wants to build a luxury housing project on the site of the Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry’s (VIR) unique fruit and berry germplasm collection at the Pavlovsk Experimental Station near St Petersburg. And that the conservation community has been trying to assist VIR’s staff via a petition in their attempts to stop this wanton destruction. Well…

…mounting pressure from scientists has now resulted in at least partial success. The RHDF has announced to ask an independent international expert commission to evaluate the situation at Pavlovsk before proceeding with its plans. Moreover, the Russian Accounts Chamber, a body controlling federal budgets, has announced to inspect the station on 15 September.

Great news indeed. But we’re not out of the woods yet. ¹ It’s undoubtedly a victory, but we need to keep that pressure up.

September 6, 2010September 6, 2010

Nibbles: Bees, Genebanks, Livestock, Deforestation

17 years of data confirm fears of bee decline.
Slideshow on Egyptian Deserts Genebank; prepare to be astounded.
Slideshow on US National Plant Germplasm System; prepare to be even more astounded.
Livestock and climate change, a background paper from ILRI.
“Most new farmland comes from cutting tropical forest.” The good news: it’s corporate, so can be pressured to stop.

September 4, 2010September 3, 2010

The not so boring B-301 cowpea

Have a look at the comments to this post of ours from a few days back and then tell me that germplasm documentation doesn’t need a social networking makeover.

September 3, 2010September 3, 2010

Anarchist demo at Pavlovsk

August 31 Pavlovskaia experimental station, the commission came from the Chamber to the closed doors to determine whether it is a unique collection of plants Vavilov retained, or to land occupied by the collection, sold by luxury villas. In response, the anarchists staged an unauthorized picket.

A demonstration? By anarchists? In the Russian Federation? Seems to be an alternative view on the news we reported last night. But please, someone, somewhere, do us a better translation of this.

September 3, 2010September 4, 2010

Daniel Debouck honoured

Daniel Debouck, a world expert on Phaseolus and the manager of CIAT’s genebank, ² is to be awarded the Frank N. Meyer Medal for Plant Genetic Resources. This is well-deserved recognition of three decades of painstaking work on the conservation and use of agrobiodiversity. Daniel’s latest paper in on Lima beans.