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Strategic Reserve
A strategic reserve is the reserve of a commodity or items that is held back from normal use by governments, organisations, or businesses in pursuance of a particular strategy or to cope with unexpected events. A document issued by the US Department of Defense in 2005 defines a strategic reserve as follows: ''"An external reinforcing force which is not committed in advance to a specific Major Subordinate Command, but which can be deployed to any region for a mission decided at the time by the Major NATO Commander."'' There are several national and international projects aiming to preserve the existing natural wealth and diversity in case of mass extinction or a global catastrophe. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault facility, opened in 2008, focuses on collecting duplicate samples of plant seeds from all around the world and currently contains close to 1 million different agricultural seed samples. The final storage capacity is said to be 4.5 million seed samples. Another such institu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault ( no, Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure backup facility for the world's crop diversity on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The Seed Vault provides long-term storage of duplicates of seeds conserved in genebanks around the world. This provides security of the world's food supply against the loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease and natural disasters. The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement among the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen). The Norwegian government entirely funded the Seed Vault's approximately ( in 2008) construction cost. Norway and the Crop Trust pay for operational costs. Storing seeds in the vault is free to depositors. The vault has been depicted in several films and other art forms, including Marcus Paus’ children' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic Uranium Reserves
Strategic uranium reserves refer to uranium inventories held by the government of a particular country, as well as private industry, for the purpose of providing economic and national security during an energy crisis. North America In the early 1990s, the United States created a temporary strategic uranium reserve. The authorization for this reserve expired in 1998: ''There is hereby established the National Strategic Uranium Reserve under the direction and control of the Secretary. The Reserve shall consist of natural uranium and uranium equivalents contained in stockpiles or inventories currently held by the United States for defense purposes. Effective on October 24, 1992, and for 6 years thereafter, use of the Reserve shall be restricted to military purposes and government research. Use of the Department of Energy’s stockpile of enrichment tails existing on October 24, 1992, shall be restricted to military purposes for 6 years thereafter. Recently, due to increases in the pric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategy
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art of the general", which included several subsets of skills including military tactics, siegecraft, logistics etc., the term came into use in the 6th century C.E. in Eastern Roman terminology, and was translated into Western vernacular languages only in the 18th century. From then until the 20th century, the word "strategy" came to denote "a comprehensive way to try to pursue political ends, including the threat or actual use of force, in a dialectic of wills" in a military conflict, in which both adversaries interact. Strategy is important because the resources available to achieve goals are usually limited. Strategy generally involves setting goals and priorities, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elia System Operator
Elia is a Belgian transmission system operator for high-voltage electricity (30,000–380,000 volts), located in Brussels, Belgium. It operates in Belgium and Germany. The company transmits electricity from generators to distribution system operators, which then supply SMEs and homes. Elia also has contracts with major industrial users that directly connect to its high-voltage grid. Elia's main activities include managing grid infrastructure (maintaining and developing high-voltage installations), managing the electrical system (monitoring flows, maintaining the balance between electricity consumption and generation 24/7, importing and exporting to and from neighbouring countries) and facilitating the market (developing services and mechanisms with a view to developing the electricity market at national and European level). Elia Group also offers consulting and engineering services through a subsidiary Elia Grid International (EGI), founded in 2014. History Elia was created as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic National Stockpile
The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), originally called the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS), is the United States' national repository of antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other critical medical supplies. Its website states: "The Strategic National Stockpile's role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available." In at least 10 government reports published from 2003 to 2015, federal officials predicted that the U.S. would experience a shortage of ventilators and other medical supplies were a large-scale infectious disease outbreak to occur. Locations The actual supply of drugs and supplies that make up the SNS are located in 12 secret locations st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federation Of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers
The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (french: Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec, FPAQ) is a government-sanctioned private organization that regulates the production and marketing of maple syrup in Quebec. As of 2011, the FPAQ produced 94% of Canadian maple syrup and 77% of the world's supply. The FPAQ plays a role in the collective marketing of maple products and in organizing sales inside and outside the province. Some consider it to be a cartel. History Beginning in 1958, the maple syrup producers of Beauce region in the south of Quebec participated in a joint plan to protect their rights as producers and to collectively market maple syrup. This effort inspired the formation of a larger agreement all across Quebec in 1966. Since 1989, all FPAQ’s producers abide by a collective agreement to market their product. Together, the producers establish policies, negotiate their selling strategy, enforce production quota, set up quality criteria and spon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold Reserve
A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of value, or to support the value of the national currency. The World Gold Council estimates that all the gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, totalled 190,040 metric tons in 2019How much gold has been mined? , World Gold Council but other independent estimates vary by as much as 20%. At a price of US, reached on 16 August 2017, one metric ton of gold has a value of approximately $40.2 million. The total value of all gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, would exceed $7.5 trillion at that valuation and using WGC 2017 estimates. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic Grain Reserve
A strategic grain reserve is a government stockpile of grain for the purpose of meeting future domestic or international needs. In the United States, such programs have included the Farmer-Owned Grain Reserve (1977–1996), Food Security Wheat Reserve (1980–1996), Food Security Commodity Reserve (1996–1998), and most recently the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (BEHT) is a strategic grain reserve of commodities and cash held in trust to supplement food aid made available under P.L. 480 programs. The Trust can hold up to 4 million metric tons of wheat, corn, sorghum, an ... (1998–). References * Food politics Strategic reserves of the United States United States Department of Agriculture {{agriculture-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Helium Reserve
The National Helium Reserve, also known as the Federal Helium Reserve, is a strategic reserve of the United States holding over 1 billion cubic meters (109 m3) of helium gas. The helium is stored at the Cliffside Storage Facility about northwest of Amarillo, Texas, in a natural geologic gas storage formation, the Bush Dome reservoir. The reserve was established with the enactment of the Helium Act of 1925. The strategic supply provisioned the noble gas for airships, and in the 1950s became an important source of coolant during the Cold War and Space Race. The facilities were located close to the Hugoton and other natural gas fields in southwest Kansas and the panhandle of Oklahoma, plus the Panhandle Field in Texas. These fields contain natural gas with unusually high percentages of helium—from 0.3% to 2.7%—and constitute the United States' largest helium source. The helium is separated as a byproduct from the produced natural gas. After the Helium Acts Amendments of 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve
The Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve was created in July 2000 to provide a reserve of heating oil for the approximately 5.3 million households in the Northeast region of the United States that use heating oil for their homes. History On July 10, 2000, President of the United States Bill Clinton directed Energy Secretary Bill Richardson to establish a home heating oil component of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the Northeast. The intent was to create a buffer large enough to allow commercial companies to compensate for interruptions in supply or severe winter weather, but not so large as to dissuade suppliers from responding to increasing prices as a sign that more supply is needed. The reserve was opened for the first time in November 2012. were made available to local and Federal agencies for relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Facilities * Amerada Hess Corp., Perth Amboy (near Woodbridge, New Jersey). Capacity 965,000 barrels *Amerada Hess Corp., Groton, Conn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frozen Ark
The Frozen Ark is a charitable frozen zoo project created jointly by the Zoological Society of London, the Natural History Museum and University of Nottingham. The project aims to preserve the DNA and living cells of endangered species to retain the genetic knowledge for the future. The Frozen Ark collects and stores samples taken from animals in zoos and those threatened with extinction in the wild. Its current director is Michael W. Bruford (Cardiff University). The Frozen Ark was a finalist for the Saatchi & Saatchi Award for World Changing Ideas in 2006. The project was founded by Ann Clarke, her husband Bryan Clarke and Dame Anne McLaren. Since Bryan Clarke′s death in 2014, the Frozen Ark′s interim director has been Mike Bruford Michael William Bruford (born 6 June 1963) is a Welsh molecular ecologist, conservation biologist and currently professor at Cardiff University's School of Biosciences. His area of research spans from animal wildlife genetics to the manag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Global Strategic Petroleum Reserves
Global strategic petroleum reserves (GSPR) refer to crude oil inventories (or stockpiles) held by the government of a particular country, as well as private industry, to safeguard the economy and help maintain national security during an energy crisis. Strategic reserves are intended to be used to cover short-term supply disruptions. In 2004, approximately of oil was held in strategic reserves by International Energy Agency member states, of which 1.4 billion is government-controlled and the remainder held by private industry. In February 2022, this amounted to close to two years' worth of net oil imports held in IEA member states' strategic petroleum reserves. The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has consistently held the largest strategic reserve. Some non-IEA countries have started work on their own strategic petroleum reserves. China has the largest of these new reserves. Global oil consumption is in the region of per day. The 4.1 billion barrels reserve held in 2004 would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
