It is hidden deep in an icy mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the Arctic. The World Seed Bank, which some call the ‘Arch of Biodiversity’, others the ‘The Doomsday Vault’ and the ‘The Doomsday Vault’. This is the world seed bank largest assortment reserve on the planet. Appreciate the seeds that can save a post-apocalyptic world. Lifeline for humanity; or, as some scientists call it, ‘the most important room in the world’.
This underground facility Built to withstand the passage of time and natural or man-made disasters, it already contains more than a million seed samples.It comes from almost every country in the world: 30,000 years of agriculture.
Although there are more than 1,700 gene banks with detained collections of food products on the planet, many of them are vulnerable and exposed not only to natural disasters and wars, but also to preventable adversities such as lack of funding or mismanagement.
But what happens to plant species when farmers stop planting them? They become obsolete and eventually disappear. AND The loss of a product variety is as irreversible as the destruction of any form of life..
with the idea Protecting all plant biodiversity on Earth The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was born as a ‘shelter’ with the capacity to store 4.5 million varieties of crops, each containing an average of 500 seeds, so that 2,250 million seeds could be saved.
disaster resistant
Let’s say in the event of a catastrophic crop shortage due to a deadly new disease, or if all other instances of a particular crop were destroyed, the world could rely on the existing collection for it.vegetables noah’s ark‘ to provide source material for new varieties.
World Seed Bank established disaster resistant by the Norwegian Government. Wangari Maathai, now late, Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel laureate first deposit, a box of rice seeds, in February 2008.
The facility is managed and operated jointly between the Scandinavian country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Scandinavian Genetic Resources Center (NordGen) and the international organization Crop Trust.
Norway spent 8.3 million euros on the construction of the World Seed Bank, and then invested another 20 million euros in the technical upgrading of the plant. exposed to recurrent water leaks in the inlet tunnel due to climate change melting (seeds not affected). The annual cost of running the Seed Warehouse is around one million Euros.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened its doors just a few days ago for its first seed vault of the year: 10 gene banks from around the world have stored 39 boxes containing 20,443 samples, bringing a total number of gene banks. 1,145,862 seeds. Germplasm banks from Australia, Germany, Morocco, New Zealand, Scandinavian countries, Romania, Slovakia, Sudan and Uganda participated.
Hispanic examples
Are there Spanish seeds too? There is. The first 1,080 Spanish varieties from INIA-CSIC are already in these arctic plants. “Of these, 300 are winter grains, 114 are wheat; 510 are legumes and 189 of these are beans; 200 are horticultural, 81 tomato and 108 corn varieties,” CSIC explained when these samples were transferred to Svalbard. The term of the deposit is usually 10 renewable years.
These 1,080 cultivars are a small representation compared to over 1,000 cultivars. 30,000 samples It is held in the essential collection held at the CRF’s headquarters in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid).
What kinds of seeds are in the ‘biodiversity ship’? almost everything: samples of approximately 140,000 different wheat varieties; 150,000 rice samples; 70,000 barley samples; and 10,000 to 20,000 examples of different types of potatoes, peas, sorghum and many other crops. Which There are not and will not be genetically modified seeds..
Are there Spanish seeds in the ‘Apocalypse Vault’? Well yes: 7,055 unique samples originating in Spain, although none contributed by the Spanish Government. But $2.63 million (€2.32 million) went into the Crop Trust Endowment Fund.
Even though the cellar belongs to Norway, the countries and institutions that contributed the seeds remain their owners and all seeds are sealed under ‘black box’ conditions: no one except the warehouses can access or remove them from the huge silo. Storage is free.
Inside the ‘Doomsday Vault’ no conflicts: boxes are stacked in order of arrival. So seeds from North Korea are next to those from the US, and those from Ukraine are very close to those from Russia. Each seed is considered a priceless biological treasure. The aim is that all terrestrial food biodiversity can be preserved indefinitely.
safest place in the world
The decision was made taking into account the location of the Vault. safest in the world. Moreover, as governments began to talk about the dangers climate change poses to crops, Norway emerged as one of the only places both developing and industrialized countries still trusted.
So if an agreement was to be reached to build a safe haven for the seeds, Norway was the best option. That’s why politically far-flung governments like Washington and Pyongyang agreed to store backup copies of their most valuable plant resources on Svalbard.
While climate change is a serious concern for sustainable food production worldwide, the World Seed Bank itself is not impacted and its guardians do not expect it to be impacted in the future. The seeds will be stored for centuries. There are reasons for hope:
– The Seed Vault was built at an altitude of 130 meters above sea level.It ensures that the floor of the facility remains dry even if the two poles melt.
–Three seed chambers carved into a solid mountain of rock. The tunnel leading to the rooms is made of waterproof concrete.
–Permafrost conditions in rooms mean a lower energy requirement for mechanical cooling, down to -18ºC.
The vault is resistant to volcanic activity, earthquakes, radiation and rising sea levels.and in the event of a power outage, the permafrost outside will act as a natural cooler.
Endangered products
“As the rate of climate change and biodiversity loss increases, save endangered food products”says Stefan Schmitz, CEO of Crop Trust.
“The broad scope of the February 2020 seedbed reflects global concern about the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on food production, but more importantly, growing global commitment of institutions and countries created deposits and thus the world for the conservation and exploitation of crop diversity”, adds Schmitz.
Plans to build the Seed Warehouse began in the 1980s, but at the time there was no international agreement to regulate the site or support such a major effort, so the project was shelved.
With the entry into force of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2004, a good legal basis was finally established for the creation of the Cellar.
After it was decided to build the Vault in Svalbard because of its remote location and permafrost covering it –seeds must be kept frozen to survive-, the Norwegian Government studied possible locations and finally decided to build the cellar in the bowels of a mountain.
Only once have seeds been pulled from the Vault so far: in October 2015, the International Center for Agricultural Research in Arid Areas (ICARDA) retrieved its seeds due to the escalation of the war in Syria, which has forced the Aleppo Seed Bank. in danger
Project website: https://seedvault.nordgen.org/
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Contact details of the environment department: [email protected]