Seed bank for the world threatened by financial crisis

[bananas]

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE50S4FB20090129

Seed bank for the world threatened by financial crisis
Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:44am EST
By Georgina Cooper

ARDINGLY, England (Reuters) - A seed bank that is trying to collect every type of plant in the world is now under threat from the global financial crisis, its director says.

The Millennium Seed Bank Project aims to house all the 300,000 different plant species known to exist to ensure future biodiversity and protect a vital source of food and medicines, director Paul Smith said.

The project is on track to collect 10 percent of the total by 2010 but the financial crisis is drying up funding, casting serious doubts on future collections, he said.

About half the funding comes from the National Lottery and the rest from corporate donations.

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[The2ndWheel]

1. I think if we ever actually needed something like that

we'd be well beyond any point of return. It almost gives us an excuse to continue what we've been doing, since we're keeping a few seeds locked away. Sounds like yet another attempt to control more of life an an ever increasing scale.

[OneBlueSky]

2. the money spent on one day of war in Iraq and Afghanistan . . .

would probably fund the seed bank for decades . . . shows you where our priorities are . . .