Svalbard Global Seed Vault
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure backup facility for the world's crop diversity on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago.[5] The Seed Vault provides long-term storage of duplicates of seeds conserved in genebanks around the world. This provides security of the world's food supply against the loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease and natural disasters. The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement among the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).[6][7]
The Norwegian government entirely funded the Seed Vault's approximately 45 million kr (US$8.8 million in 2008) construction cost.[3] Norway and the Crop Trust pay for operational costs. Storing seeds in the vault is free to depositors. The vault has been depicted in several films and other art forms, including Marcus Paus’ children's opera Children of Ginko.
Mission[edit]
The Seed Vault's mission is to provide a backup against accidental loss of diversity in traditional genebanks. While the popular press has emphasized its possible utility in the event of a major regional or global catastrophe, the Seed Vault will be more frequently accessed when genebanks lose samples due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, and natural disasters. These events occur with some regularity. War and civil strife have a history of destroying some genebanks. The national genebank of the Philippines was damaged by flooding and later destroyed by a fire, the genebanks of Afghanistan and Iraq have been lost completely, while an international genebank in Syria became unavailable.[32] According to The Economist, "the Svalbard vault is a backup for the world's 1,750 seed banks, storehouses of agricultural biodiversity."[32]
Norwegian law has prohibited the storing of genetically modified seeds at the vault.[36]
The adjacent Arctic World Archive provides a similar service for data, which is etched as code into reels of film. Project lead Piql of Norway states that the film, when properly preserved, should last for 1,000 years.[37]
Tripartite agreement[edit]
The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement among the Norwegian Government, the Crop Trust, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).[6][7] The Kingdom of Norway owns the Seed Vault. The Crop Trust provides funding for ongoing operations and provides financial assistance to depositors in their preparation of shipments. NordGen operates the Seed Vault and maintains the public database of the deposits.[38]
An International Advisory Council provides guidance and advice. It includes representatives from the FAO, CGIAR, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and other institutions.[39][40]
Seed storage[edit]
The seeds are stored in sealed three-ply foil packages and then placed into plastic tote containers on metal shelving racks.[52] The storage rooms are kept at −18 °C (−0.4 °F). The low temperature and limited access to oxygen will ensure low metabolic activity and delay seed ageing. The permafrost surrounding the facility will help maintain the low temperature of the seeds if the electricity supply fails.[53][42]
Initially the Seed Vault would have some minor water intrusion at its entrance during the annual spring permafrost thawing. Warmer temperatures and heavy rainfall in October 2016 caused significantly greater amounts of water to seep into the entrance, but the facility's design ensured that the water froze after several meters and the seeds were not endangered.[22][54] Work completed in 2019 eliminated this water seepage.[24]
Attached to the seed boxes are sheets of nanofilm that hold information on such things as seed identity.[55]
Crop Trust[edit]
The Crop Trust, officially known as the Global Crop Diversity Trust, plays a key role in the planning of the Seed Vault and coordinating shipments of seed samples to the Seed Vault in conjunction with the Nordic Genetic Resource Center. The Crop Trust provides most of the annual operating costs for the facility and has set aside an endowment fund to do so,[56] while the Norwegian government finances upkeep of the structure itself. With support of its donors, the Crop Trust assists selected genebanks in developing countries as well as the international agricultural research centres in packaging and shipping seeds to the Seed Vault.
Cultural depictions[edit]
The Seed Vault was the inspiration for Ibsen International's art project "The Seed", supported by the Norwegian government. The children's opera Children of Ginko (Norwegian: Frøbarna) by Marcus Paus, which aimed to raise ecological awareness, "reveal the power of nature and celebrate children's courage in growing up",[69][70] was created as part of this project.
The Seed Vault was featured in "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" which aired on 21 November 2010.[71]
The Seed Vault is featured in the second season of the Belgian Netflix TV series Into the Night and in the first season of its Turkish spin-off, the Netflix series Yakamoz S-245, both of which are based on the novel The Old Axolotl by Jacek Dukaj.[72]
In Season 4 of The Last Ship, seeds taken from the seed vault are contested by multiple factions as they hold the key to stopping a global famine.
In Season 3 of 2016 MacGyver "Seeds + Permafrost + Feather" the team head to Greenland, where a man working in a highly secure international seed vault has vanished without a trace. Upon arrival, the team finds a dead body and one packet of seeds missing from a North Korean crate, the seeds being for a pea pod whose plant can be synthesized into a deadly poison.
In Season 3 of the TV series Scorpion, titled "Dirty Seeds, Done Dirt Cheap," the protagonists travel to Greenland for a simple job, repairing a malfunctioning system at the Granse World Seed Vault.
The vault is depicted in the second season of DuckTales in the episode "Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!".
In the Bobiverse books by Dennis E Taylor the Seed Vault has been improved to the Svalbard Global Trust, which also has genetic material from most Earth animals, and is critical to the attempts to move humans into colonies on other planets.
Science fiction author Stephen Baxter has used the Seed Vault, described as the "Svalbard vault", in his novels Flood and Ark. The vault is first purchased by a millionaire as the world floods, and then cached aboard a starship to take Earth life to new worlds.
In Riot Games FPS, Valorant, Deadlock - the 23rd agent to be released - goes on a mission to Svalbard Seed Vault, where she and her allies escort a scientist to retrieve Radianite, protecting him from the bear Radivore.
