The site in Spitsbergen was deemed appropriate for a permanent storage location for several reasons. The Global Seed Vault was officially opened on 26 February 2008. Global awareness and authority subsequently increased when the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) was ratified in 2001. ![]() The initiative began in the 1980’s when the Nordic Gene Bank began collecting frozen seeds in an abandoned coal mine in Spitsbergen as a backup storage facility. The seed vault is built 150m into the side of Platåberget mountain, just a few kilometres from the primary settlement of Longyearbyen. The largest island, Spitsbergen, hosts the majority of the territory’s population-just under 3000 people-most of whom work in coal mining or scientific research. Svalbard is a series of islands in the Arctic Ocean, midway between the northern tip of Norway and the North Pole. 14 years on, the colloquially named ‘Doomsday Vault’ houses more than 1 million distinct plant samples, with rigorous safeguarding and security protocols in place to ensure that nothing and nobody can compromise it. Food scarcity and the eradication of species are two of the biggest issues unfolding as the consequences of the changing climate are becoming more and more drastic, threatening much of the world’s biodiversity.Īs a response to this worldwide concern, and with a view to preserve as much of our present-day diversity as possible, in 2008 the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) was officially opened. ![]() With the purported end of the world being predicted every few years, future-proofing global resources has become a greater priority-particularly where biologists are concerned. Svalbard was originally an independent whaling base, until it became incorporated into the Kingdom of Norway in the early 20th century. But yes, it’s true-just south of the 80th parallel on the Svalbard archipelago is a ‘genetic resource’ stronghold-The Svalbard Global Seed Vault. ![]() It’s not a bomb shelter, nor is it straight out of an episode of Doomsday Preppers.
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