Today, 75 percent of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and five animal species. So next time you see an oddly shaped cabbage or a not so sweet carrot, don’t shy away – this might be your chance to save the world. Why Humanity's "Doomsday Vault" Is On Thin Ice: An Investigative … Most of us have read about the committed botanists at the Valilov institute in St. Petersburg who rather than touching the seed collection starved to death during the WW2-siege of city. The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers | Nordens Hus | Ved Stranden 18, 1061 Copenhagen K, Denmark | Contact information | About this website | Upplýsingar á føroyskum. Keep up with the latest Nordic initiatives and campaigns. While the entrance may be visible, the Vault itself is over 100 meters into the mountain. State of the Nordic Region 2020 presents facts and figures from the Nordic countries on core socioeconomic areas. Spitsbergen, the only inhabited island of the Svalbard archipelago, lies just 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole. The seed vault has sometimes been referred to as “the most important room in the world”. The temperatures can reach −46.3 °C (−51.3 °F) and there is literally no sunlight for 153 days a year. In this section, you can search for images with a Nordic theme. But what if something happens to the store-box? Funding for projects involving the Nordic Region and Québec, Green aviation, cruise tourism and plastic waste were on the agenda when the Nordic environment and climate ministers met, “Climate change and loss of biodiversity are the same problem”, Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers 2020, History of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Conservationist Cary Fowler, in association with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), started the vault to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds that are duplicate samples, or "spare" copies, of seeds held in gene banksworldwide. All in all, it’s a perfect place to build a super secure facility without having to invest in expensive security measures or even in signs that say “visitors keep out”. They keep track of the enormous diversity of plant cultivars bred by the world’s farmers. The seed vault is an attempt to ensure against the loss of seeds in other geneba… Seed banks represent our efforts to counterbalance the widespread loss of biodiversity. "None of these reasons for locating the facility in Norway would have sufficed had it not been for the fact that Svalbard offers al… The Seed Vault Search our funding schemes, calls to tender and procurement contracts to find the funding option that best suits your project. Here is why. In fact, with the Global Seed Vault maintaining an optimal temperature of -18ºC, experts believe the seeds could survive for thousands of years in the vault. These seeds are of particular historical and cultural significance because the cradle of agriculture was in and around the lands of ancient Syria. Perhaps more importantly the old Syrian crops had desirable genetic traits such as heat and drought resistance. The plants we use today are cultivated variants - the results of thousands of years of breeding efforts – that have been adapted to our tastes, needs and industrial production methods. There is also the awe-inducing facade, with the artwork ‘Perpetual Repercussion’ by Dyveke Sanne adorning it. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault Deep inside a mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, lies the Global Seed Vault. Svalbard's Global Seed Vault: Insurance for Humanity's Future - … By providing a safety back-up, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault contributes to securing crop diversity important for the world’s food production. Here, the earth’s seed stocks are preserved so that humanity can start over in case of Armageddon-like global disasters. There are grades of bitterness that had been bred away in exchange for sweetness – toughness shapes and colours, which have become more uniform. Download free publications from the Nordic Council, Nordic Council of Ministers and associated organisations. The plants are then harvested and a fresh portion of seeds can be packed and stored again – only to be woken up again decades into the future. In 1984, the Nordic Gene Bank (now NordGen) had established a back-up Facts and statistics about the Nordic Region and the Nordic countries. Therefore, seed banks must have backups – and backups of the backups. And they cannot all be stored in the same building, the same city or even the same climatic zone. Svalbard Global Seed Vault, operated by Global Crop Diversity Trust, is practically the world’s insurance policy. During the millennia a wealth of cultivars has been bred to suit different growing conditions; climate, soil, day-length, diseases or pests and societal needs. It is a fail-safe seed storage facility, built to stand the test of time — and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters. 25 Little-Known Facts About Humanity's Real-World Doomsday Vault But with more global and uniform economies and controlled production environments we have become to rely on fewer and fewer of these diverse variants. It’s not an easy place to reach: Svalbard is the farthest north a person can fly on a scheduled flight, and there are no roads between the island’s settlements. Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a secure seed bank located on the Spitsbergen Island of Norway. The Global Seed Vault contains backup copies of over 40% of the world’s seed collections. While you’re still not allowed to go in, you can visit the exterior of the Seed Vault to take photos. Plus, the vault is actually 100 meters inside the mountain, and only the entrance is visible. People all over the world should listen. What if the freezer loses power, is flooded, blown up in a military action or compromised in any other way. As the experts on the virtual tour inside the vault will tell you (there can be no physical tour “unless you are a nominated plant breeder or researcher”), there are no borders here. As it glitters during those long, polar nights, sometimes with the Northern Lights also twinkling above, it will make you realize the trip was worth it. And it’s all as a result of Nordic co-operation. The Seed Vault Svalbard Global Seed Vault Protects Earth's Food's Supply—Here’s … The Svalbard Global Seed Vault contains 642 million seeds and has the ability to hold up to 2,5 billion. This is how gene banks work. It is a fail-safe seed storage facility, built to stand the test of time — and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters. The Literature Prize, the Children and Young People’s Literature Prize, the Music Prize, the Film Prize, and the Environment Prize. Inside the future of humanity: Svalbard’s Global Seed Vault | The … Of course, the fact that it’s hard to reach and impossible to enter doesn’t completely discourage travelers. Photo by Svalbard Global Seed Vault/Riccardo Gangale via Landbruks-og matdepartementet/Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0) But, overall, it worked: Over the past five years, they’ve successfully grown more than 100,000 of their original accessions, shipping 81,000 newly grown samples back to Svalbard to bolster their deposit. The area is geologically stable and humidity levels are low. An apt description – had Noah’s Ark been built to also withstand asteroid impacts and nuclear bombs. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is like the ultimate back up for the world’s citizens in times of a major global crisis. Svalbard is found north of mainland Europe, halfway between continental Norway and the North Pole, according to the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food. I have not lived there (only about 2300 people do) but recently visited and paid attention to the people that actually lives there :-) Svalbard is important of several reasons, among them the Natural resources, Location and the Weather. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure seed bank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago. In fact some 75 percent of plant genetic diversity has been lost since 1990s as farmers worldwide have left their multiple local landraces for genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties. Almost one million collections of seeds neatly packed and sealed, waiting for the unlikely catastrophe to hit the originals. The Svalbard Global Seed Bank is located in Svalbard in a Norwegian archipelago (an area of ocean containing many islands) in the Arctic Ocean. This means that changes in climate, new diseases or other environmental changes can have widespread impacts for food security. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault Deep inside a mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, lies the Global Seed Vault. The seeds are from all over the world – each country has rights and access to its own seeds, and are the only ones that can open the boxes and withdraw them. Get insight into areas where the Nordic countries work together. The Seed Vault, opened by the Norwegian Government in February of 2008, is the largest and most diverse seed security facility in the world. Help and advice for anyone looking for information about working, studying, or running a business in another Nordic country. And this is where it gets even more interesting. The Global Seed Vault is one of the most important seed banks in the world, situated less than a thousand miles from the North Pole in the Longyearbyen settlement on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. A row of the shelves and boxes that make up the world’s largest collection of crop diversity, © Michael Poliza, Courtesy of Global Crop Diversity Trust, The Svalbard Global Seed Bank on a Polar Night, just 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole. The Svalbard seed-vault was built in order to preserve seeds of important food-crops, and safeguard them against potential disaster. Why the Global Seed Vault is so important | Nordic cooperation Here you can gain insight into current issues under consideration by the Nordic Council as well as look at closed cases. Seed bank is a type of gene bank that aims to preserve genetic diversity in the form of seeds. Oh, and there are polar bears around that will not hesitate to attack and eat your chocolate. Search among a selection of information films, interviews, web transmissions and other video material. The Nordic Council of Ministers’ publication strategy and guidelines for the production of Nordic reports and publications. You can travel, study and work anywhere you want to in the Nordic Region. The remote location means that few people will disturb the seed vault, while the permafrost it's buried within serves as a natural freezer to preserve the seeds even without human maintenance (in fact, I'm pretty sure they found Captain America in ice not too far from here). Power supplies are stable, school meals healthy and culture easily accessible. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault's location–deep inside a mountain on a distant island in the Arctic–is very deliberate. The Seed Vault works as an insurance policy for these genebanks should they lose their material for any reason. It’s important for this specific facility to be as secure as possible. In 2015 90.000 collections of seeds were taken out of the Vault and shipped to Lebanon and Morocco to create new replacement gene banks. The rest of the roughly 6000 species are a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and other plants. Located only 1200 km from the North Pole, carved deep intro the mountainside by the Norwegian government, it can hardly be described as accessible. They understood the importance of the seed bank for the future of the food production in their country; that once lost these resources might be gone forever. The world's most important cold storage facility safeguards the … Located in the arctic circle, The Global Seed Vault isn't simply just a large storage facility for seeds from around the world. The vulnerable nature of these gene banks necessitated the need for a much more secure mode of storage that would act as a global deposit of seeds to benefi… Although there are 1,700 gene banks scattered across the world in various countries, the seeds of crop plants stored in these gene banks are quite susceptible to war, natural catastrophes, poor financial management, and/or political instability. Most of the seeds can be kept for decades in cold and dry containers but how long they survive depends on the species and many other factors. Deep inside the remote Platåberget mountain on the Descriptions, guidelines and specifications for the Nordic Council and Nordic Council of Ministers' graphic profile. Nordic co-operation has been formalised by way of agreements between the countries. As a typical seed bank contains thousands or even hundreds of thousands of different seed accessions this process requires dedicated and skilled staff and appropriate environments. We must ensure that even in the most dramatic circumstances, there will always be a safe copy of the plants we rely on for food production somewhere in the world. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is seen on Monday, Feb. 25, 2008, in Longyearbyen, Norway. Thankfully, there are some added perks to the arctic climate other than discouraging guests. Here’s why. Keeping the seeds alive is partly science and partly art. The Global Seed Vault at Svalbard’s arctic archipelago is practically impenetrable and, unless you have actual business there, don’t expect to be allowed inside. Svalbard is the farthest north a person can fly on a scheduled flight, offering a remote location that is nevertheless accessible. The Nordic region will become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world in 2030. There are even tours that will take you there and tell you all you need to know about the Seed Vault. You can search here for known cross-border obstacles between the Nordic countries. The vault has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed … How the Svalbard Global Seed Vault Built off of Beal | MSU Alumni And it shouldn’t be. Why Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway Is a Forbidden Place Fortunately, the vault in Aleppo had duplicates in The Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Today, it is estimated that the world’s seed banks contain more than two million seed samples of agricultural plants. The Svalbard Seed Vault is located 1300 kilometers above the Arctic Circle on Spitsbergen, the only populated island of the remote Svalbard archipelago. Plant genetic resources are one of the most valuable assets of human societies. When experts say that the Global Seed Vault, located in Svalbard, probably is the most important room in the world they are not kidding. The vault has a particular focus on food crops, so 69% of the seeds are grains (rice the biggest at 85 million) and 9% legumes. That may be an overstatement, but it is certainly one of the most important insurance schemes in the world. A worldwide insurance policy for humanity is buried in Arctic Norway. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is this “somewhere in the world”. Here are some links to legal databases in the Nordic countries. As soon as new seeds were produced, backup copies were sent back to Svalbard for extra safety. The war in Syria left an important seed vault in Aleppo unreachable – cutting off access to more than 135.000 varieties of crops, most of them already extinct. Currently over a million seeds – each sealed individually in a heatproof packet – are sitting there in a permafrost space. And luckily, we are becoming more aware of the value of diversity, when it comes to food. It has been called ‘the Noah’s Ark of plant diversity’. Svalbard Global Seed Vault commences seed experiment that will … Get insight into the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ international activities. Even in the case of ice melting in the future due to climate change, the Vault still wouldn’t be affected, as it is built 150 meters above sea level. In this section, you can see what is happening in Nordic co-operation. In fact, Norway recently spent 100 million NOK towards upgrading and extending the viability of the Vault, which has the capacity to hold 2.5 billion seeds. Uniform gene base implies both global and local risks. Find useful information about the Nordic Region and each of its countries here. For instance, there is zero possibility of earthquakes, and even if there’s a power cut and the cooling systems fail, the temperature will not exceed −4 °C. When the seeds start to lose their germination ability they must be planted in appropriate soils and brought to life. It contains seeds from more than 930,000 crop varieties, and has the capacity to store up to 4.5 million. Download podcasts by the Nordic Council and Nordic Council of Ministers on current affairs and co-operation in the Nordic Region. Join the Nordic climate debate on 17 November! Information and resources for the press and media. News from the Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers. And it works! The monument was established in 2006, when the decision for building the Seed Vault Norway: Svalbard Global Seed Vault- Anurag Dhyani Largest seed deposit to date planned in Svalbard next week - … The Svalbard Global Seed Vault. There are 13,000 years’ worth of humanity’s agricultural history on the vault’s shelves, so it’s understandably crucial that safety of the seeds is prioritized. People around the world are re-discovering the tastes and textures embedded in the forgotten variants of agricultural plants. 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