Comments on: The relevance of Vavilov in 2010 http://www.vaviblog.com/the-relevance-of-vavilov-in-2010/ A voice for N.I. Vavilov Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:10:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: admin http://www.vaviblog.com/the-relevance-of-vavilov-in-2010/comment-page-1/#comment-3070 admin Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:58:57 +0000 http://www.vaviblog.com/?p=1400#comment-3070 Thanks Scott. I had not known about Shell's interest in buying the Vavilov collection, and there doesn't seem to be anything via Google; is that story documented somewhere? You raise an extremely interesting point when you talk about trying to rouse students in the former Soviet Union to fight for "their patrimony". If you mean the recognition of Vavilov as a hero, then I totally agree with you. If you mean that the seeds he collected are part of "their patrimony" that opens a whole can of worms about ownership, stewardship, access and benefit sharing, and the like. Can you clarify? Thanks Scott. I had not known about Shell’s interest in buying the Vavilov collection, and there doesn’t seem to be anything via Google; is that story documented somewhere?

You raise an extremely interesting point when you talk about trying to rouse students in the former Soviet Union to fight for “their patrimony”. If you mean the recognition of Vavilov as a hero, then I totally agree with you. If you mean that the seeds he collected are part of “their patrimony” that opens a whole can of worms about ownership, stewardship, access and benefit sharing, and the like.

Can you clarify?

]]> By: Scott Pittman http://www.vaviblog.com/the-relevance-of-vavilov-in-2010/comment-page-1/#comment-3032 Scott Pittman Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:09:46 +0000 http://www.vaviblog.com/?p=1400#comment-3032 How wonderful that Gary was the second foreigner to receive the Vavilov metal. Bill Mollison was the first and I had the honor to travel throughout the Former Soviet Union (FSU) with him the year following. I was shocked the following year when I heard that Royal Dutch Shell was interested in buying the Vavilov collection and that the Russians were not opposed. The news was unbelievable to me and I spent the rest of my time in the FSU trying to rouse my students into fighting for their patrimony, to tho get them to recognize Vavilov as the international hero that he was. The collection seems to have escaped the auctioneers hammer for now but the coporate giants are still very interested in owning life in the form of the germplasm of seeds around the world, and little is being done to discourage them form their rapaciousness. I salute Gary Nabhan and the people of the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics who named him recipient. How wonderful that Gary was the second foreigner to receive the Vavilov metal. Bill Mollison was the first and I had the honor to travel throughout the Former Soviet Union (FSU) with him the year following.

I was shocked the following year when I heard that Royal Dutch Shell was interested in buying the Vavilov collection and that the Russians were not opposed. The news was unbelievable to me and I spent the rest of my time in the FSU trying to rouse my students into fighting for their patrimony, to tho get them to recognize Vavilov as the international hero that he was.

The collection seems to have escaped the auctioneers hammer for now but the coporate giants are still very interested in owning life in the form of the germplasm of seeds around the world, and little is being done to discourage them form their rapaciousness.

I salute Gary Nabhan and the people of the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics who named him recipient.

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