RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered an immediate inquiry into the destruction of the world’s largest seed bank repositry, the Pavlovsk centre. In a follow up in the Guardian, John Vidal, environmental editor, explains further.
The station was established in 1926 by Nikolai Vavilov. During the siege of Leningrad, 12 scientists chose to starve while protecting the diversity amassed by Vavilov, even though the seeds of rice, peas, corn and wheat that they were protecting could have sustained them.