The latest shipment adds nearly 20,000 more, from around 650 species, including a large proportion of varieties unique to the US. We already have 69,000 accessions safely stored in the Seed Vault at Svalbard. “Working in partnership with the Crop Trust, the USDA is able to have a ‘back-up for our back-up’. “Preserving crop diversity – the wonderful plant genetic resources that live and grow in our own backyard – is an area where we can really make a difference.” Seed Curator at the United States Department of Agriculture, Dr. “I am proud to say that the Federal Republic of Germany has sent more than 40,000 samples of crops to the Seed Vault and continues to support the work of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.” “The work of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and the Crop Trust to conserve crop diversity here in the arctic cold and across the world is essential for the success of agriculture in the future.” Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Peter Bleser, who was at the Vault during the deposit said: For example in the US, there is today a greater focus on making sure there are sufficient quantities and varieties of native seeds available for restoration efforts following floods, wildfires and other natural disasters that could otherwise damage natural ecosystems permanently. The preservation of native species is also important for repopulation efforts. The entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault ( Image: Norwegian Government) “These challenges range from climate change, to new pests and diseases, increasing pressures on agricultural land and more expensive inputs.” ![]() Plant breeders and scientists need access to the widest possible genetic diversity, to breed the new crops required now and in the future to feed a growing global population in a world facing numerous challenges.” “Depositing these seeds in Svalbard secures their rich genetic reservoir. Global Crop Diversity Trust said in a statement: Spanning 12,000 years of agricultural historyĮvery seed preserved in the vault has its own story, part of almost 12,000 years of agricultural heritage.īenin is sending Oryza glaberrima, a rice species first domesticated in the inland delta of the River Niger more than 3,500 years ago. The deposit from just the United States contains seeds gathered from about 150 different countries. They have been dispatched from every corner of the globe – from Benin in West Africa to the heart of the Rocky mountains, and will be added to the 839,000 samples already deposited there. Samples of Norway spruce and Scots pine have entered the vault.ĭuring this week, the Global Crop Diversity Trust said thousands of seeds from virtually every nation in the world will be deposited in the vault. Scientists say it can withstand virtually any natural or man-made catastrophe. ![]() ![]() The Svalbard Doomsday Vault is deep inside a mountain. The seed vault is managed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT), the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen), and the Norwegian Government. ![]() The aim is to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds that are duplicate samples (spare copies) of seeds held in gene banks worldwide, to insure against the loss of seeds in other genebanks during regional or global catastrophes. Known officially as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which is inside a mountain, it is designed to withstand virtually all human and natural disasters. The first delivery of forest tree species seeds have been accepted by the Svalbard Doomsday Vault, a secure seed bank on the island of Spitsbergen, Norway, in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, just 810 miles (1,300 km) from the North Pole.
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