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Biodiversity: the largest seed bank in the world in the ice

Structural diagram of the most important global seed vault Source: survival-spot.com

Inside a mountain of ice, a thousand kilometres from the North Pole, hundreds of thousands of seeds, the fruit of thirteen thousand years of global agriculture, are carefully guarded. Considered by many the "Noah's Ark" of plant species, the Svalbard underground global seed vault was created to conserve the planet's biodiversity.

Internal seed vault. Source: glamox.com

The project was promoted and financed by the Norwegian Government and supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. Agricultural biodiversity is at risk every day because of the use of new hybrid seeds and consequent abandonment of many ancient crops. Human activities and climate change are generating disastrous effects in terms of distribution of

Home / Life / Special reports species and changes in biological cycles. Therefore, the resources stored in these bunkers are among the most valuable in the world. The structure, built in the permafrost so as to be safe from wars, natural disasters, climate change, parasites, genetic experiments and modern intensive agriculture technologies passed a tough test in recent days. Unusually warm temperatures caused the ice to melt which in part entered the tunnel. No danger for the seeds. The structure continues and will continue to be a safe place, able to guarantee to future generations the availability of food, even in particularly adverse weather conditions which have never occurred on Earth. This will be possible because, for each plant species, varieties with unique genetic characteristics that lead to different behaviour under extreme conditions are stored in the vault. Moreover, the seeds sent to the vault are able to survive for thousands of years at a temperature of 18 degrees below zero.

Seed samples. Source: croptrust.org

The seeds are the beginning and the source of life and preserving them in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and in the hundreds of other smaller seed banks means controlling the future life of mankind. by Francesca Scannone