One of the biggest seed banks in the world could soon be replaced by a housing development. (Al Jazeera)

One of the world’s largest and most important seeds banks, in Pavlovsk near St Petersburg, Russia, has come under threat of obliteration to make way for new private housing development. The historic Pavlovsk Experimental Station, started in 1926 by Russian botanist and agricultural scientist Nikolai Vavilov, is an agricultural experiment station and gene bank containing some 5,000 different varieties of fruits and berries. An estimated 90% of the collection is found in no other seed bank or research collection in the world, meaning that if development moves forward, these varieties are most likely to be lost forever. To highlight the gravity of this, that includes more than 1,000 varieties of strawberries alone!

If the site is closed down it will be a massive blow to Europe’s biodiversity and our already fragile ecology. Perhaps all is not yet lost though; President Medvedev tweeted two weeks ago that the issue of the closure will be, in his own words, “scrutinised”. Well, he has been talking about food security and agriculture for a while, most recently stating that “There will be no food shortages.” Now all there is left is to start connecting the dots..

More here, here and, if you’re a twitterer, here: @kremlinrussia_e.