The Gandantegchinlen (meaning Great Place of Complete Joy) Monastery in Ulaan Baatar features a 25 metre tall statue called Migjid Janraisig, “the Lord who looks in every direction.” The original was built in the early 20th century in an effort to restore the sight of Bogd Javzandamba, the eighth Jebtsundamba, spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia. The statue was dismantled and taken away by the Soviets in 1938, but it was rebuilt in 1996 with donations from the Mongolian people. The statue is gilded solid copper. Well, almost solid. Precious cultural materials are encased within it. Including seeds of dozens of the country’s wheat landraces, according to my friends at the national genebank in Darkhan.
Nibbles: FAOSTAT, Drought, Seeds, Helianthus, Coffee trade, CePaCT, Figs, Old rice and new pigeonpea, Navajo tea, Cattle diversity, Diabetes, Art, Aurochs, Cocks
- FAO sets data free. About time.
- Presentation on drought risk and preparedness around the world. Nice maps.
- A Facebook for seeds?
- The diversity of Jerusalem artichoke. In France.
- Coffee certification 101.
- Nice plug for SPC’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees.
- The fig of choice in San Francisco.
- Back to traditional rice varieties in India. But forward to new pigeonpea varieties in Malawi. Go figure.
- Navajo tea. Would love to try it.
- “The mixed (east-west) affiliation of Mongolian cattle parallels the mixed affiliation of Mongolians themselves.”
- Lancet article mentions Lois Englberger and her Go Local work in the Pacific in context of diabetes epidemic in Asia-Pacific.
- Edible art.
- More on bringing back the aurochs. Does anyone really want one, though?
- Great variety of rare and exotic poultry breeds. Temptation to pun smuttily averted, mostly.
A tale of two genebanks
Both the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank are in the news this weekend. Coincidence? Probably.
Nibbles: Climate change, Monitoring, Evaluation, Vegetables, FAO newsletters, Guardians
- Climate change to bring lemons in Kent. Now for the bad news.
- Monitoring biodiversity in Africa and India.
- More Free Air Concentration Enrichment (FACE) research facilities needed, say those who work there.
- Ethnic vegetables? Yep, you heard me.
- Non-Wood Forest Products and Plant Breeding newsletters are out. Subscribe already!
- W.S. Merwin: poet and Guardian of Biodiversity.
Agrobiodiversity means luck
Literally, I mean. In China, the peanut (huasheng 花生) is an auspicious symbol because its second character (sheng 生) means “to give birth.” That’s why you can buy cute plastic peanut-shaped toys which open to play a jingle.
