The Svalbard Global Seed Vault will open its doors for the first time this year to welcome 23 depositors, half from Africa.
Nine depositors – from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Zambia – are sending their seeds for safekeeping for the first time. Some more popular crops deposited this time are beans, barley, cowpea, maize, rice, millet, and sorghum.
Established 16 years ago and operated in a partnership between the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen), and the Crop Trust, the facility was designed to hold over 2 billion seeds and ensure their availability for future generations. Located in the permafrost of the Svalbard archipelago on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, the seed vault maintains conditions for the long-term storage of seeds, protecting them from natural and human-made disasters.
To read more at croptrust.org
