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Safeguarding a Safeguard: Assessing the Status of Global Ex-Situ Crop Conservation and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault’s Role in its Protection

Keegan, Christopher LU (2022) EKHS34 20221
Department of Economic History
Abstract (Swedish)
The Svalbard Seed Vault serves as a backup against accidental loss of genetic crop diversity within the existing global conservation system. Addressing this objective, this thesis repeats the 2013 assessment of the Seed Vault’s completeness relative to the global conservation system as performed by Westengen et al (2013, 1). It is shown that gaps have continued to exist in Svalbard’s collection. Second, this thesis goes beyond the 2013 analysis, seeking to assess whether reductions in accession quality amongst under-resourced genebanks has impacted their ability to safeguard their accessions in the Seed Vault. By using accession-level data from Genesys PGR and the NordGen Seed Portal, a regression analysis is performed, showing that the... (More)
The Svalbard Seed Vault serves as a backup against accidental loss of genetic crop diversity within the existing global conservation system. Addressing this objective, this thesis repeats the 2013 assessment of the Seed Vault’s completeness relative to the global conservation system as performed by Westengen et al (2013, 1). It is shown that gaps have continued to exist in Svalbard’s collection. Second, this thesis goes beyond the 2013 analysis, seeking to assess whether reductions in accession quality amongst under-resourced genebanks has impacted their ability to safeguard their accessions in the Seed Vault. By using accession-level data from Genesys PGR and the NordGen Seed Portal, a regression analysis is performed, showing that the average Passport Data Completeness Index (PDCI) of a holding institute is positively correlated with the percentage of its suitable accessions duplicated in Svalbard. This suggests that the genebanks whose collections are most likely at risk to genetic erosion are also likely to be less capable of safeguarding their accessions in Svalbard. (Less)
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author
Keegan, Christopher LU
supervisor
organization
course
EKHS34 20221
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Genebanks, Genetic Resources, Genetic Erosion, Passport Data Completeness
language
English
id
9099298
date added to LUP
2022-11-09 08:47:46
date last changed
2022-11-09 08:47:46
@misc{9099298,
  abstract     = {{The Svalbard Seed Vault serves as a backup against accidental loss of genetic crop diversity within the existing global conservation system. Addressing this objective, this thesis repeats the 2013 assessment of the Seed Vault’s completeness relative to the global conservation system as performed by Westengen et al (2013, 1). It is shown that gaps have continued to exist in Svalbard’s collection. Second, this thesis goes beyond the 2013 analysis, seeking to assess whether reductions in accession quality amongst under-resourced genebanks has impacted their ability to safeguard their accessions in the Seed Vault. By using accession-level data from Genesys PGR and the NordGen Seed Portal, a regression analysis is performed, showing that the average Passport Data Completeness Index (PDCI) of a holding institute is positively correlated with the percentage of its suitable accessions duplicated in Svalbard. This suggests that the genebanks whose collections are most likely at risk to genetic erosion are also likely to be less capable of safeguarding their accessions in Svalbard.}},
  author       = {{Keegan, Christopher}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Safeguarding a Safeguard: Assessing the Status of Global Ex-Situ Crop Conservation and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault’s Role in its Protection}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}