Seeds are sealed in custom-made threeply foil packages, which are sealed inside boxes and stored on shelves inside the Seed Vault. Prior to construction, a feasibility study was conducted, which found that the vault could preserve most major crops’ seeds for hundreds of years. According to some sources, it would take up to two centuries for the vault to warm to 0☌. The permafrost and sandstone in which the vault has been built assures that even should the refrigeration units fail, it would take weeks for the vault to reach the average ambient temperature of −3☌. Locally mined coal provides power for the vault’s refrigeration units. The Seed Vault is a backup for these gene banks. However, as the Crop Trust explains, these gene banks are vulnerable to natural catastrophes and war, as well as poor funding or management. There are more than 1 700 gene banks in the world. “Plant breeders and scientists use crop diversity to develop new, more resilient and productive varieties that consumers want to eat, that are nutritious and tasty, and that are adapted to local preferences, environments and challenges.” “And once an heirloom variety or wild crop relative is lost, it is gone forever.”Īccording to the Crop Trust, crop diversity is essential for food security and nutrition. Threats to crop diversity include extreme weather events, changes in agricultural practices, the emergence and spread of new pests and diseases and human conflict, the Crop Trust says. The Seed Vault also ensures crop diversity, which, according to the Crop Trust, is under constant threat. Should a Doomsday event occur, the seed bank aims to ensure that farmers are able to have access to the latest and currently most important seeds for food production. Each seed represents important crop varieties available in the world today. The Crop Trust further says that the Seed Vault is the “ultimate insurance policy” for the world’s food supply. “Its purpose is to back up gene bank collections to secure the foundation of future food supply.” THE VAULT IS LARGE ENOUGH TO STORE OVER FOUR MILLION CROP SEEDS IN OPTIMAL CONDITION IMPORTANCE FOR FOOD SECURITYĪccording to the Crop Trust, the Seed Vault safeguards duplicates of 1 214 827 seed samples from almost every country, with room for millions more. In celebration of the Seed Vault’s 10th anniversary in February 2018, 70 000 samples were delivered to the vault, bringing the number of samples received to more than one million. By the end of the first year, the vault had over 400 000 seed samples. Within the first year, more than 90 000 seed samples had been deposited in the vault, adding to the already over 300 000 Nordic samples that had been stored by NordGen since 1984. The facility was officially opened on 26 February 2008, and was entirely funded and built by Norway. NordGen stresses that the vault is a security back-up, and that depositing gene banks must ensure that they only send the vault duplicates of crop seeds. ![]() The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement between the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust, and the regional gene bank, the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen). Gene banks ‘deposit’ duplicates of seeds into the vault to protect against the potential loss of seed due to mismanagement, accidents, sabotage and natural or human-made disasters. At present, there are over 1,2 million seeds kept at the vault, which is built into a permafrost layer in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago. Often referred to as the ‘Doomsday’ vault, the objective of the facility is to safeguard seed for future crop production in the case of a nuclear war or other disasters. It's a cold area filled with polar bears and snow scooters, along with brightly colored houses.The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Svalbard Globale Frøhvelv) holds the key to the world’s crop production. The vault is located in Svalbard, an archipelago that's part of Norway. ![]() That way, if a regional seed vault loses something, the Svalbard collection can replace the sample. Those returning samples include the ones sent out in 2015 to replace a collection that had been damaged by the Syrian civil war.Ĭary Fowler, the man considered the "father" of the seed vault and a former executive director of the international nonprofit organization Crop Trust, compares it to a safety deposit box: the point of the vault is not for apocalyptic scenarios, but serves more as a sort of back-up drive.įowler told Business Insider in October that the vault is used to store duplicates of existing seed banks that have been collecting seeds for 100 years. And on Wednesday, that seed vault got even more seeds - almost 50,000 new samples - to help preserve biodiversity.
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