![]() The island is the most rapidly warming part of the planet but experts say the deposits are buried so deep in the permafrost that they will be safe for centuries. In theory, the seeds are safe, although the entrance to the facility flooded with meltwater in 2017 after a heatwave in Svalbard. As you make your way between what look like the shelves of a DIY warehouse, you can click on a country’s box to find out more. Each species is sealed in an aluminium airtight bag and kept in its country’s box. Eventually, you arrive at the “cathedral”, home to the three seed chambers, each of which can store nearly 3,000 seed boxes. What is secured inside the vault is one of the most important global public goods we have on Earth Stefan Schmitz, the Crop TrustĪway from the panoramic view of the Arctic night from the vault’s entrance, the virtual tour takes you down a long tunnel deep into the mountain. Research into the resilience of these crops and plant species could be vital as the planet heats in the coming decades. Photograph: NordGenĪfter the Aleppo seed bank was destroyed in the Syrian civil war, the vault was used to replenish seeds for the first time by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, a regional hub based in Aleppo to study crops from the cradle of civilisation where agriculture first began. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault might look a bit like a DIY warehouse but it’s ‘one of the most important global public goods we have on Earth’. I’ve been so many times and I’m still curious.” ![]() Then you see all of the boxes with seeds from all of these countries. “When you open the door, it’s -18C – the international standard for conserving seeds – which is very, very cold. All you can hear is yourself,” says Lise Lykke Steffensen, executive director of NordGen, which is responsible for the day to day operation of the vault. It has high ceilings and when you’re standing inside the mountain, there’s hardly any sound. Scientists say they hope people will learn more about their work through the virtual tour – without running the risk of falling prey to a polar bear. The seeds could hold answers to agricultural challenges posed by climate crisis, invasive species, pests, changes in rainfall patterns and rampant biodiversity loss are studied, and it opens three times a year to accept new deposits from other seed banks around the world. Located 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole, the Svalbard archipelago, which is twice the size of Belgium, counts 2,300 inhabitants and is considered the ideal place for the vault due to its remoteness, far from civil strife.The deep-freeze, designed to last for ever, is co-managed by the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust and NordGen, the genebank of the Nordic countries. There are 1,700 gene banks around the world that safeguard collections of food crops and many of these are exposed to natural disasters and wars, according to the independent Global Crop Diversity Trust. The vault currently has 967,216 varities as some Syrian grains were withdrawn with the aim of re-introducing local strains after the fighting in Aleppo ended. "I am extremely happy to announce that more than one million seeds will pass through this door to be secured forever," said Norway's Agriculture Minister Jon Georg Dale. The delivery raises to 1,059,646 the overall number of unique crop varieties deposited in the so-called "doomsday vault" since it opened on Februwith the aim of providing a "fail-safe seed storage facility, built to stand the test of time and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters." Launched in 2008, the Svalbard vault was on Monday marking its 10th anniversary by taking shipments of more than 76,000 seed samples, with depositors from all over the world delivering crops such as black-eyed peas, the Bambara groundnut and the Estonian onion potato.Īlthough housed in Norway, the seeds belong to the donor states and institutions and they can withdraw them at their convenience. ![]() Norway's 'doomsday' seed bank, which seeks to protect the world's crops from natural disasters, on Monday said it had gathered more than a million varieties as it marked its 10-year anniversary.ĭubbed the "Noah's Ark" of food crops, the Global Seed Vault is located deep inside a mountain on Svalbard, a remote Arctic island in a Norwegian archipelago and has the capacity to store up to 4.5 billion seeds. ![]()
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