Svalbard: The future of global food supply in the ice is secured!

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the remote island of Spitzbergen in Norway is a crucial facility for global food supply. This extraordinary seed chamber, which was opened in 2008, ensures long -term protection of biological diversity by keeping spare elements of over 1.3 million types of seeds from all over the world. The seeds are stored under ideal conditions at constant −18 ° C in permafrost and are to secure the supply of the world with food, should catastrophic losses occur in conventional gene banks, such as OE24 reported.

This week 14,000 new seed samples, including Nordic tree species and Thai rice, were integrated into the bunker. Stefan Schmitz, Managing Director of Crop Trust, emphasizes the enormous importance of these samples, since they represent not only the genetic diversity, but also the knowledge of the communities that they cultivate. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault ultimately acts as a "insurance" for agriculture by offering a safe backup against loss through mismanagement, natural disasters or wars, as also on wikipedia is.

a safe port for biodiversity

The bunker is geologically stable and strategically protected against rising sea levels, which makes it an ideal location for storing seeds. With the capacity of storing up to 500 types of 4.5 million plants, the chamber represents a central pillar of global food safety. The Norwegian state bears the costs for the operation and maintenance of the system, while storing Seeds is free. This enables large international gene banks and indigenous communities to secure their seeds for the future.

Various challenges have occurred in recent years, such as water intrusion, which was caused by climate change. In addition, the Covid 19 pandemic is not a threat to the security of the seed chamber, since there are no employees on site. In all of these developments, Svalbard Global Seed Vault remains an important place for international cooperation to preserve agricultural diversity, which is also seen as a symbol for future generations.