Entrance to the offices at Pavlovsk Station. Photo: Cary Fowler/Global Crop Diversity Trust
The destruction of the globally important collection of fruit biodiversity at Pavlovsk Experiment Station moved a step closer today with a court decision in favour of the federal housing authority, but some hope remains. The N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) says it will today lodge an appeal with the Supreme Arbitration Court. This gains campaigners another month to save Pavlovsk.
“This is a sad day,” said Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity international, which has been campaigning to help save the collection. “But,” he added, “there is hope. We do have another month to try and show the Russian authorities that the fruit and berry varieties that have been stored and studied at Pavlovsk since it was founded in 1926 have a vital role to play in the future of Russian and global agriculture.”
Cary Fowler, Executive Director at the Global Crop Diversity Trust, agreed. “We are not giving up, and will be fighting hard to reverse this decision”.
Bioversity scientists, working with colleagues at the VIR and in Luxembourg, have established that some of the Pavlovsk berry varieties have very high levels of nutritious phytochemicals that can help to fight against diseases such as cancers and heart disease. These could be the basis for important growth industries.
The diversity at Pavlovsk will also be essential as Russia struggles to adapt its agriculture to climate change.
“Russia is currently being ravaged by the hottest summer on record,” Frison pointed out. “That is just a taste of changes to come, and crop diversity will be a vital weapon in the fight to produce enough food in future.”
A spokesman for VIR said that they had received further confirmation that the Court’s decision can be revoked by the President or Prime Minister. “This makes it more important than ever that people register their views with President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin,” said Emile Frison.
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An online petition is available with information about how to contact the Russian government.
Emile Frison will be one of the keynote speakers at the Crawford Fund Annual Conference on 31 August and 1 September, 2010.