news

The “Svalbard Global Seed Vault”, which can stock approximately 4.5 million crop samples, and nearly 2 billion seeds , will open on the Svalbard Islands in Northern Norway on the 26th of this month.

This facility, which is also being referred to as the “modern day Noah’s Ark”, was established to collect as many seeds and samples of wheat, rice, beans, potatoes, and corn as possible from all over the world as back data and to preserve them in case these crops become extinct due to large-scale natural disasters, climate change, or war. Handing down plant diversity to the next generation is also one of its great purposes.

The storage facility is in the permanently-frozen ground, so even if the electricity supply stops, the facility will function as a minus 18-degree natural cooling system. The construction costs were borne by the Norwegian government. And the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which has a global seed bank network, is leading the way in management of this facility.

Little by little seeds from all over the world have begun to arrive in Norway. And 70,000 types of rice from 120 countries are on the way from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI); 30,000 types of bean samples from International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT); 47,000 types of wheat seeds and 10,000 types of maize (corn) from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). And seeds from even Kenya and Pakistan - areas where the domestic political situation is unstable - will arrive by the facility’s opening day.

Related URL/media
http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/lmd/campain/svalbard-global-seed-vault/front-page.html?id=462227