Egyptian Desert Genebank- video footage of destruction

The Egyptian Desert Genebank at Shiekh Zowaid Station in North Sinai sustained serious damage during the recent uprising in Egypt. The video footage (filmed by El-Sayed Mohammed El-Azazi, Executive Director of the Genebank) shows the damage to the genebank and the destruction of the labs, and equipment - not to mention valuable genebank data lost forever. Thankfully the seeds and the field genebank have been spared, as is seen in the final footage of the film. This is yet another sobering reminder of how fragile the diversity in genebanks can be, and the importance of safety duplication.