Do We Care About Synbiodiversity? Questions Arising from an Investigation into Whether There are GM Crops in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Fern Wickson

doi:10.1007/s10806-016-9634-7

Abstract

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault provides a backup of seed collections from genebanks around the world. It’s unique character has made it iconic in the public imagination as a ‘Noah’s Ark’ for crop plants. Its remote location and strict controls on access have, however, also lent it an air of mystery, swirling with conspiracy theories. In this paper, I first clarify the aims of the Vault, the history of its development and the policies and practices of its current operation. Given concerns around its potential links to the biotechnology industry, I go on to ask whether GM crops are currently stored in the Vault. Presenting several reasons for why GM crops are formally excluded, while indicating the potential for both change and unintentional contamination, I am compelled to question whether GM crops should be excluded. Answering this requires an interrogation of their potential conservation value as modern contributors to crop biodiversity. In exploring this issue, I suggest that there has been surprisingly little discussion of the moral status and conservation value of bio-technological crop plants and indeed, of how we care for all the techno-lifeforms we are currently engaged in co-creating. I suggest that these are becoming important issues as biotechnological techniques and applications begin to rapidly evolve and diversify (e.g. through genome editing and synthetic biology). Emphasizing the scope for a refreshed interdisciplinary research agenda exploring the interface between biotechnology and biodiversity conservation, I conclude the article by proposing new concepts of synbiodiversity and symbiodiversity to encourage further debate.

Highlights

Conserving the diversity of our important crop plants is crucial for the resilience of agricultural systems in the face of change
It goes on to present and reflect upon the important philosophical and socio-political questions that arose as a result of this investigation, namely those around the moral status and conservation value of biotechnological organisms and whether and how we care for the rising cacophony of ‘synbiodiversity’ we are engaged in co-creating
I began by explaining the operation and management of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and answered the question of whether genetically modified (GM) seeds can be found there—arguing that there are good reasons to believe GM crops are explicitly excluded, unintentional contamination remains a possibility

Summary

Introduction

Conserving the diversity of our important crop plants is crucial for the resilience of agricultural systems in the face of change. The work presented here, results from a specific investigation into the operation of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (hereafter the Vault) as the international apex of ex situ models of crop biodiversity conservation. The initial question framing the research reported here was one of how the Svalbard Global Seed Vault functioned—its operational policies, procedures and practices. The deceptively simple question I posed was ‘‘Are there any genetically modified (GM) seeds in the Vault?’’ This paper documents my attempt to answer that question and describes what I learned about the Vault and its operations, and the diverse answers received as to whether GM crops can be found in its icy interior. It goes on to present and reflect upon the important philosophical and socio-political questions that arose as a result of this investigation, namely those around the moral status and conservation value of biotechnological organisms and whether and how we care for the rising cacophony of ‘synbiodiversity’ we are engaged in co-creating

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Conclusion