Global Seed Conservation: questions of food security, seeds, and heritage in the face of climate change

Keywords: seed banks, political ecology, conservation, climate change adaptation, geopolitics
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 13

Abstract

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) has commonly been referred to as a doomsday vault, protecting food security in case of a mass extinction event. Functionally, the vault provides back-up copies of genetic material for gene banks across the world in the event of damage to samples at local gene banks. This effort to create an international repository of genetic samples is the result of a global network of governments, institutions, and funders invested in this genetic material for its climate change adaptation potential. This paper asks, as one of the most comprehensive collections of plant materials in the world, how does SGSV’s international network of plant genetics conservation provide insight into the politics of global scale seed saving as a climate change adaptation and food security strategy?

Using political economy and STS approaches, this paper analyzes the networks of research institutions, gene banks, governments, and other funding agencies that provide material, political, and financial support to the SGSV. Tracing these networks can help us better understand how global seed conservation renders plant material as data, separate from local environments and local knowledge and the implications for seed conservation and seed development as a climate change adaptation strategy. Part of this paper will focus specifically on the samples in the vault from Jordan as part of a larger study about international food politics, food security, and climate change in Jordan.