Design Audit - Svalbard Global Seed Vault

AUDIT:

SVALBARD SEED VAULT

KERSTI NURKA | YINAN MA | LIZZ ASTON | PABLO MUNOZ | DANIEL VALENCIA

INDEX 1-2 WHO 03 4 5-6 7-8 9- 21

STAKEHOLDER IMPACT MAP THE GAP EXAMPLE TRENDS

22 23 24-25

SOLUTION PLATFORM PERSONAS

26 27 28

SCENARIO LEGASEED END

“REWILDING THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE”

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WHO The Svalbard Seedbank seeks to preserve the world’s genetic information. It categorizes and safekeeps the seeds of various plants to insure against natural crises.

It is completely free to any end users and is named one of Time Magazine’s best inventions of 2008. It is a safeguard against disaster both natural and man-made. It stands as a haven of science and knowledge, a place where life can be studied and begun anew.

However, we believe there is so much more...

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STAKEHOLDER CHART

SVALBARD

CGIAR

SEED VAULT

RESEARCH CENTERS AFRICA RICE CENTER ITALIAN BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL

FUNDING

INDONESIAN CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY

NORDIC GENETIC RESOURCE CENTER

COLOMBIA CENTER FOR TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

GLOBAL NORWEGIAN GENETIC GOVERNMENT DIVERSITY TRUST

SYRIA CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL IN THE DRY AREA INDIA CROPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR SEMI-ARID TROPICS UNITED STATES FOOD POLICY INSTITUTE NIGERIA INSTITUE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE

MANAGEMENT

KENYA LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTE MEXICO MAIZE AND WHEAT IMPROVEMENT CENTER PERU INTERNATIONAL POTATO CENTER

COUNTRIES

FOUNDATION

CORPORATION

PHILIPPINES RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

OTHERS

SRI LANKA WATER MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE KENYA WORLD ARGOFORESTRY CENTRE AUSTRALIA

ARIA FOUNDATION

PIONEER HI-BRED

CGIAR CENTERS

GATES FOUNDATION

E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS

CGIAR FUND COUNCIL

GATSBY FOUNDATION

GRAINS RESEARCH & DEV.

CROPLIFE INTERNATIONAL

JORDAN J. HAMMERSLEY

KWS SAAT AG

FOOD&AGRICULTURE ORG.

LILIAN GOLDMAN TRUST

SYNGENTA AG

INDIVIDUAL DONATIONS

BRAZIL CANADA COLOMBIA EGYPT ETHIOPIA GERMANY INDIA IRELAND ITALY JAPAN

MOORE FOUNDATION ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION

NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND

SAM SPIEGAL FOUNDATION

NORWAY SPAIN

SYNGENTA FOUNDATION

MALAYSIA CENTER FOR LIVING AQUATIC RESOURCES

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

WORLD BANK

MARIE HAGA

INT. SEED FEDERATION

PAULA BRAMEL

DONORS

NELLA BAUSE

SCIENCE TEAM

LUIGI GUARINO PETER WENZL MATIJA OBREZA HANNES DEMPEWOLF CHARLOTTE LUSTY

UNTIED NATIONS FOUNDATION

PARTNERSHIP TEAM

FINANCE TEAM

CRISTIAN MORENO NELISSA JAMORA

CORPORATE OPERATIONS TEAM

JANET MUIR

JANET MUIR

LAYLA DAOUD

STEFAN THYEN

STEFAN THYEN

DAGNY POSER

ABDUL WAJID

ABDUL WAJID

AMANDA DOBSON

AMANDA DOBSON

ANNA STOLYARSKAYA

ANNA STOLYARSKAYA

MARY GHIRA

MARY GHIRA

JANNY VAN BEEM BERI BONGLIM

UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES

STAFF

DAVID WESTPHAL ALIREZA MOHAMMADI

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Labour Movements

Stweardship Procurment

Environmental Impact Product

Arab Spring

Famine Agricultural Research

Resource Management

Access to water

Water

Energy

Trade

Nuclear Holocoust

Agricultural Diversity

Sustainable

Bio Diversity Ancestral

Personalized Healthcare

Drought Resistant Crops

Self Sustaining Microcosms Food Security

Higher yield crops Non Timber Forest Products

Indigenous heritage

Longevity

Micro Biome Sequencing

Botamnists

Bio Technology Corporate Investment

Agro Tourism

Quality of Life Botanists

Gene Banks

Health Care

Technology

Regional Redevelopment

Earthquakes

Business Community

Farmers

Poverty

Philanthropy

Economy Food

Natural Disaster

Svalbard

Floods

Sustainable Development

Tourism

Biologists

Development

Business Impact

Leverage

Crops

Climate change

Desease

Global Infrastructure

Labour Arbitrage

Local Economies

Redevelopment

Biosecurity

Human Rights

Regional Economies

Mass

Global Crisis Response

Climate Change

Greenhouse Gases

Urban Food Automated

Healthy Biosphere Perma Culture Indigenous Sovereignty Global

City States

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GENETIC INFORMATION

CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

THE GAP

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The Myth Gap While the Svalbard Seed Vault holds unquantifiable amounts of genetic information, the communities that developed these seeds - through artificial selection, farming practices and agricultural technology- hold key knowledge for activating these seeds in very specific ways. Emerging trends in Bicultural Diversity (pg # 8) and NeoTraditionalism (pg 20) are seeing value in ancient traditions contextualized in modern technology.

The stories held by these communities bridge the gap between the genetic information bank that is the Svalbard Seed Vault and the ancestral heritage imbedded into the practices of diverse communities around the world.

A great example of this can be seen in the MicroBiome revolution (pg11 ) in which scientists are identifying the importance of an individual’s bacteria ecosystem and how relevant it is with regards to where the person’s genetic ancestry comes from. Some indicators of this movement are the rise of ancient fermented drinks like Kombucha and Kefir Water.

Evolutionary scholar Henry Plotkin affirms that stories not only contribute to human evolution but also behave in the same way as genetic evolution.

“Gaining knowledge of the world by countless living organisms, it conserves it [information] selectively relative to criteria of need, and that collective knowledge is doled out to individuals who come into the world with innate ideas and predispositions to learn things in specific ways” In other words, as a human species we keep information necessary for our human evolution by the way of stories and myths.

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BREAD

INDUSTRIALIZATION

THEN

NOW

Wheat, even as milled our is hard for humans to digest. Fermentation allows bacteria to break the carbohydrates and gluten in the dough.

This live process releases the healthy minerals in the grain so that our bodies can more easily absorb them. Through industrialization the process of fermenting dough posed too many potential variables so it was scrapped and what for hundreds of years was a recipe of only three ingredients (water, our and salt) turned into a product full of additives (up to 38 on the average grocery store loaf) with little nutritional value. However the recipes and stories of of fermentation have been passed from generation to generation and are seeing a rebirth in practice. Almost every culture has a form of bread as well as a god or goddess of fermentation. It is the preservation of these stories that are allowing a neo-traditional renaissance, a movement of people looking at the past to make a more holistic present for themselves.

Mid-size bakers are now using current technology with ancestral recipes to once again produce what has been the staple of human diet for years.

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UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

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UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

PRESERVATING NATURE, CULTURE&LINGUISTIC TRADITIONS Cultural evolution occurs at an astronomically rapid pace, surpassing that of biological evolution. The dominant economic and political forces encourage uniformity and the continuous global exchange of products and information. As a result, government policies prioritize rapid resource consumption, instead of long-term sustainable practices. Capitalism favours monoculture, and a one-size-fits-all solution to industrial production and factory farming, thus threatening biodiversity through an oversimplification of natural systems. Similarly, we are currently experiencing an over-simplification of language, as a result of globalization and cultural gentrification.

This can be seen as a result of systemic issues, such as government policies that promote linguistic unification, the imposition of western values on international cultures, and the shift from rural communities to growing urban centers.

This has resulted in the rapid loss of traditional knowledge and bio-cultural diversity, which nature and culture require in order to thrive.

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UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

UNESCO’s PRESERVING ENDANGERED LANGUAGES PROGRAM

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

SIGNAL 1

It is estimated that over half of the 6,000 + languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century. As a result of this linguistic mass extinction, not only will we lose access to unwritten and undocumented language, but we also face losing access to irreplaceable cultural and ancestral knowledge. In response, UNESCO is currently working to support communities, experts and governments by producing and making readily available tools in order to monitor, advocate and assess language statuses and trends. By providing services such as policy advice, expertise and training, this program acts as a platform for the exchange and transfer of knowledge and skills.

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UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SIGNAL 2

ETHNOBOTANICAL SCIENCE

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

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Ethnobotany can be defined as the scientific study of cultures and our cultural relationship to plants.

Ethnobotanists specialize in documenting, describing and explaining complex relationships between regional cultures and local plants; looking at how plants are used, managed and perceived across cultures and societies. This includes the study of food, clothing, medicine, dyes, and construction materials, while also looking at “benefit Sharing” associated with ethno-botany. The Botanic Gardens Conservation International is the world’s largest plant conservation network. BGCI supports the development and implementation of the ‘Global Strategy for Plant Conservation’ on a global, regional, national and local level, by carrying out threat assessment, seed conservation, ecological restoration, plant health and education projects. This includes the study of ethnobotany in an effort to preserve traditional knowledge about indigenous cultures and their associations with plants.

Other companies such as Urban Harvest and Seed Savers Exchange are dedicated to providing people with heirloom seed varieties, while encouraging seed saving and educating their customers about the recorded histories embedded in the ‘heirloom’ seed varieties they buy.

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

12

RE-CONCEPTUALIZING THE SUMS OF OUR PARTS There are trillions of microbes in our bodies that make up the human microbiome. Although microscopic in scale, the microbiome has a far-reaching global and cultural impact.

Looking at traditional cultures – the historic practices employed in fermenting and preserving foods across cultures have always supported the human microbiome, by incubating healthy gut flora and microbes. We are currently on the cusp of seeing a massive backlash against anti-bacterial cleaning and personal care products.

Over the course of the next decade, we will see a return to the microbiome as our ability to track, and intervene in these microbiological interactions will dictate massive changes for the health, food and knowledge economies.

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

13

SIGNAL 1

MICROBIOTIC LIFESTYLES The future of Microbiotic lifestyles signals a return to cultivating the healthy microbes in our bodies, on our bodies, and in our daily lives. This includes current trends towards growing your own live bacterial cultures such as Kombucha and Kefir water grains to make beverages that support healthy gut flora and microbes; the trend towards probiotic foods, supplements, treatments and medicines; and personal care products such as Mother’s Dirt – a company that markets ‘biome friendly’ moisturizers and microbiotic skin-care products.

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

14

SIGNAL 2

TERROIR 2.0 Currently, researchers are studying and attempting to map the microbiome that makes up the terroir of regional vineyard soils. Looking at fungai and bacteria that inhabit the surface of grape varieties, biologists are interested in mapping the patterns that inuence agriculture and microbial diversity in regional conditions. Our Microbial future will map out the complex microbiome of the living world as we know it, and use this data-rich microbial knowledge to innovate, re-imagine, and cultivate the new microbiome.

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

CREATING NEW FRAMEWORKS FOR A RESILIENT FUTURE The concept of resiliency looks at ways of preparing for the “rapid recovery from physical, social and economic disruption, including environmental disaster, terrorist attacks, or economic collapse.” We as a global community need to adopt resiliency strategies in order to address potential disasters before they happen. The Svaldbard global seed vault is one example of an effort that demonstrates this resiliency strategy. In order to be successful, we must rally together to align our goals in preparation of imminent disasters, and provide critical information that supports the future of these resiliency frameworks.

ECO RESILIENCE

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BIODIVERSIFICATION

UNIVERTUAL

Virtually all of the Earth’s ecosystems have been dramatically transformed as a result of human action.

Biodiversification offset projects involve the creation of new ecologically protected areas, that preserve species which would otherwise disappear. One example of this involves maintaining and removing invasive species from habitats in order to prevent the displacement or destruction of native species, such as the Emerald Ash Borer currently ravaging Ash Tree populations across North America. Other activities include active habitat restoration and creation projects such as creating new wetlands, using grazing as a way to prevent desertification, and creating conservation credits as incentives for developers.

SIGNAL 1

BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

16

REWILDING Is a current trend in landscape architecture and large-scale conservation that is aimed at restoring and protecting natural ecosystems that are at various stages of ecological disruption. This includes protecting and/or re-introducing apex predators and keystone species to aid in returning the wilderness area back to its original state. Some examples of large-scale Rewilding initiatives include the Rewilding Institute which “develops and promotes strategies to advance continent-scale conservation in North America, as well as Rewilding Europe, which acts as a Network or hub to document the Rewilding movement and associated projects across Europe. By creating a uniďŹ ed database, members can connect with similar initiatives and share information, knowledge and experience essential to leading successful Rewilding projects.

SIGNAL 2

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

17

Over the past few years the sharing economy has become a part of our everyday language, through the introduction and normalization of peer-to-peer platforms such as Air BnB and Uber. As the sharing economy evolves and shifts to meet the changing needs of our society, new advancements will grow to include the sharing of tools, education, resources and even skills. How can we co-opt the sharing economy to better serve our collective needs in the future?

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

18

CROWDSOURCING OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE As the sharing economy continues to grow and mature, we will look for new ways of developing, aggregating, and sharing knowledge through user-generated knowledge systems. Crowdsourcing as a tool for collecting and framing information is only just beginning. Cultural heritage institutions, archivists, historical societies and museums are just beginning to leverage the value collaborative knowledge sharing, using these strategies to access banks of rich cultural knowledge. Some current initiatives include the Library of Congress Flickr Commons Project, The National Archives Citizen Archivists Dashboard, the Smithsonians Transcription Center, and the New York Public Libraries Lab’s project.

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD SIGNAL 1

THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

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LEGACY INFRASTRUCTURE | THE CENTRE FOR THE FUTURE OF LIBRARIES The concept of the Library as we know it is rapidly changing. Libraries are no longer just community spaces for referencing or borrowing books, or looking up digital archives. The Centre for the Future of Libraries works to “identify emerging trends relevant to libraries and the communities they serve.” They are interested in “promoting futuring and innovation techniques to help libraries, and library professionals shape their future, while building connections with experts and innovative thinkers to help libraries address emerging issues.

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD SIGNAL 2

THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

20

UNIVERSAL + SPIRITUALVALUES COALESCE As populations continue their mass exodus from the country into urban areas, there is an ever-growing desire to re-connect with traditional ways of living, healing and connecting with nature. Consumers are seeking products and services that speak to a global community, rearticulating traditional values, practices and spirituality. The further industrialization and urbanization in the Eastern Hemisphere is re-shaping traditions like marriage, abstracting aspects like ceremonies and regalia, while also accepting modern values like divorce. This trend will have an effect on what consumers see as “meaningful” while retailers and service providers will need to articulate their products in a way that are, or appear to be universally conscious as well as culturally relevant. I expect products that act as “transitional tools” meaning, that aid the connection of the body to the “soul” to become more prevalent. A “Neo-Renaissance” of traditional cultures would also bring a resurrection of traditional patterns from indigenous iconography to eastern mandalas albeit with more modern takes/ interpretations. Signals include Traditional Healing, Eastern Medicine, Shamanism, Bhuddism, and Yoga.

UNIVERTUAL BIO-CULTURAL DIVERSITY

SVALBARD THE SHARING ECONOMY

SEED VAULT

THE MICROBIOME

ECO RESILIENCE

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THE PLATFORM’S CURRENCY

PLATFORM

STEM

With a library, archive and experiential database as its backbone, this online portal will provide a meeting place for nurturing and propagating of stories.

CORE

KNOWLEDGE Embedded into mythology and stories lyes ancestral knowledge. These stories while enveloped in metaphors not only provide insight into our collective global heritage but also provide valuable solutions for modern problems.

STORIES SEEDS

Social innovation through story preservation. The majority of myths stem from agriculture harvest and food. Each story tied to a specific seed will populate the database making it available to the world. Its scientific and cultural potential made available to those willing to interpret its meaning.

From scientists and anthropologists to communities wishing to preserve their ancestry or relearn something forgotten.

SOCIAL MEDIA WINGS

The digit·oral (digital-oral) era provides us with tools for being active contributors for disseminating information. Much like oral tradition, social media allows us to add to each story making it relevant to our particular context.

Evolutionary scholar Henry Plotkin affirms that stories not only contribute to human evolution but also behave in the same way as genetic evolution “Gaining knowledge of the world by countless living organisms, it conserves it selectively relative to criteria of need, and that collective knowledge is doled out to individuals who come into the world with innate ideas and predispositions to learn things in specific ways.”

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PERSONAS | SCENERIOS

ABDUL QUDDOS

MARIZON TROLANO

A farmer in the fertile Shomali region north of Kabul, grows grapes same way his father and grandfather did. He ties his vines to concrete trellises. A few years ago, he used to drive 25 miles to the capital and sell them from his car for $3 a bag.

Nevertheless agriculture communities are also thriving in Afghanistan and Abdul is also packing his vines into shipping boxes and sending them to India and Dubai. This development is supported by nonprofit groups such as Roots of Peace. Based in California, they have prepared local managers to watch out for the improvement of their own harvests. “I risked my money and I sent my grapes beyond Pakistan, further than my family has ever done” said Quddos, proudly holding up an imported packing box with a fruit logo. Many farmers are also out earning money from Poppy fields, a crop which used to find its way to the drug market. They are selecting what brings more peace and prosperity to their fields, just like their ancestor did.

Some of the Seeds have been used since the Bronze Age. They’ve come all thee way from Mesopotamia and the rich land of the Eufrates. Agriculture and the selection of quality crops, helped people settle and start thinking about future plans.

Abdul started to look upset remembering what happened in 2012, when a suicide truck bomber struck outside Afghan’sfirst juice processing plant in Kabul, destroying almost half of the facility.

Two unwanted events occurred in Philippines that caused damage to the facilities of the National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) in Los Banos Laguna. After the recovery from typhoon Milenyo in 2006, the Philippines´ largest seed bank was gutted by fire. Marizon Trolano was setting up the new upgraded installations in the gene bank.

At some point the power failed and when it came back, the fire started. “I still remember my grandparents used to look after the seeds every year” said the gene bank technician.

“My grandmother used to tell me that when she was a child, sometimes the rice didn't have any taste, but in sometimes it was the only thing we had to eat”. This is why Marizon decided to go to college; to study more about seeds in more detail. She studied their nutritional information aswell, getting a degree in Genetic Biology. During the fire, all hard copies of documentation were lost along with electronic data. The biggest damage is said to be in the vitro laboratory, which lost hundreds of duplicate collections of banana, taro, sweet potato and yams. Even after the tragedy, Marizon wants to keep her head up and keep working for the safety of seeds and their future.

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Ahmed Amri When Civil War occurred in Syria, Ahmed Amri immediately thought about seeds. Around 140.000 packets full of them sitting in cold storage 19 miles around Aleppo. Very Precious crops are being protected and they include ancient varieties of wheat and durum, which date back to the Fertile Crescent.

These crops feed millions of people everyday, and if they get damaged, humanity could lose precious genetic resources.

Amri is the director of genetic resources at the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA). This centre is preserving and protecting crops from arid regions, mostly in developing countries. People have used agricultural principles to improve their crops since the early days of farming.

Crops are made to feed people in these areas, and their loss could result in starvation and malnutrition or demographic changes.

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CULTURAL PRATICES CULTURE MAKERS

FARMING PRACTICES

ARTISTS

URBAN FARMING WRITERS

FOOD

ECONOMIC

RITUALS

DRIVE

MEANING MAKING

THEOLOGY

GENETIC TECH

NEO TRADITIONALISM

CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

CULTURAL PRESERVATION

SELF SUSTAINABILITY

COMMUNITIES

SECURITY

CLIMATE

INSTINCTS

POLITICAL SPECIAL INTEREST

COMMERCIAL

RESPECT

DIASPORA

ETHNOGRAPHY

BIOTECH

MEDECINE

HIGHER YEILD CROPS

AGRICULTURAL TECH

SECOND GENERATION

TRADITIONS

THE DIGITAL ECO SYSTEM

EXPERIENCE

MYTHOLOGY

ANCESTRY

ACADEMIC

RESEARCH

BIOTECH

UNIVERISITIES

VIEWS

COMMUNAL IDENTIY

LABS

PHILOSOPHY

AHMED

HABITS

BELIEFS

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NOUN.

LEGA SEED

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PLANT YOUR STORY

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