The idea is to maintain seeds not as a preserved snapshot of a particular genetic moment in time, but rather as a living,
evolving resource that adapts to the conditions,
climate and even
cultural circumstances (think organic growing methods versus conventional, for example) that they find themselves in.
A fragmentation of the
cultural landscapes in the arid and semi-arid lands of Mongolia has increased vulnerability and reduced the adaptive capacities to
climate variability of traditional pastoral systems, which have
evolved over thousands of years.