（带文稿）1220 科学家花费数年步行搜集野生农作物种子做保育，以对抗气候变化

张老邪叨哔叨：

还记得电影流浪地球里有个末日种子库吗（不是那个种子，滴）其实在靠近北极的挪威小岛就有斯瓦尔巴特“世界末日种子库”（也叫“种子方舟”），耗资900万美元，2008年1月投入使用，可储存450万种约22.5亿颗种子主要农作物的种子样本。喏，就是下面这个天寒地冻的地方。当然全球不止这一个，有兴趣的可以搜索相关资料。这里就不跑偏啦（今天的VOA新闻配图不好看，从别的媒体那里，比如卫报抠了几张，嗯）想想自己这种废柴连绿萝都养不活，emmm 就觉得农作物方面的科学家为了这个地球真的是操碎了心，稀碎……

        More than 100 scientists have traveled to faraway places to collect wild crop seeds in an effort to help battle climate change.

        The scientists have been likened to the hero of the “Indiana Jones” movies. Like him, they have faced dangers from blood-sucking creatures to tigers, and sometimes used elephants for transportation.

        A report on the project was published last week. It describes the results of a six-year search to collect thousands of wild seeds.

        The seeds could be important in feeding a growing human population at a time when rising temperatures are affecting crop production in some areas.

       The Reuters news agency say the scientists traveled by foot, four-wheeled vehicles, boat, horse and even elephant to reach far away areas. They collected 4,644 seed samples of 371 wild relatives of 28 world crops. Many of those wild relatives are said to be endangered.

A CWR team in Nepal collecting wild relatives of rice, okra and aubergine. Photograph: LM Salazar/Courtesy of CWR

        The Crop Trust, a nonprofit organization that works to save different kinds of crops, is directing the project. The group is working in partnership with Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens and Millennium Seed Bank. Additional financial support comes from Norway.

        The project is believed to be the largest organized international effort yet to collect and protect crops’ wild relatives.

        Hannes Dempewolf is a scientist and the head of global initiatives at the Crop Trust. He told Reuters that collecting the seeds was not easy. He noted that scientists faced extreme “heat, dust, sweat and danger from wild animals.”

        He added, “The stories these seed collectors brought back from the field often resemble scenes from an Indiana Jones movie."

Scientists that took part in the seed collection project came from 25 countries.

Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank now holds 10% of the world’s wild plant species. Photograph: Andrew McRobb/Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

        Some relatives of widely grown crops have developed so plants can survive severe conditions such as low rainfall, flooding, extreme temperatures and poor soils. Scientists say the wild crops offer a largely unused source of diversity for protecting crops against climate change.

        Some crops are threatened because of destruction of forests, climate change, conflict and expanded cities. Experts say losing this diversity could endanger food security around the world.

        A United Nations report says that food supplies are under severe threat. The report notes that the number of animal and plant species are quickly disappearing as the world deals with how to feed a rising population.

        The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says that people are depending on fewer species for food. That leaves food production at-risk to organisms, disease, lack of rain and other weather extremes linked to climate change.

        I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in this Story

diversity – n. the quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas, etc.

initiative – n. a plan or program that is intended to solve a problem

resemble – v. to be like or similar to

sample – n. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing it was taken from

scene – n. a part of a play, movie, story, etc., in which a particular action or activity occurs

source – n. someone or something that provides what is wanted or needed