From Gaza to Chad, seeds find refuge in Arctic ‘doomsday’ vault

An Arctic seed vault designed to safeguard the world’s plant diversity has received thousands of new samples, marking the largest number of depositors since 2020. The latest deposits, including Palestinian seeds, come amid growing concerns over conflict and climate change threatening food security.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is set deep inside a mountain on Norway’s Spitsbergen island, about 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole, where it can withstand disasters ranging from nuclear war to global warming.

Often referred to as the “Noah’s Ark” of food crops, it acts as a backup for gene banks around the world that store the genetic code for thousands of plant species.

Launched in 2008 with funding from Norway, the three cold chambers are today home to some 1.3 million varieties of seeds that their owners can withdraw at any moment.

Since its launch in 2008, funded by Norway, the vault’s three cold chambers have housed around 1.3 million seed varieties that can be withdrawn by their owners at any time.

The vault plays a critical role in preserving plants needed to feed a growing global population facing the impacts of climate change.

On Tuesday, more than 30,000 samples from 23 organisations in 21 countries were deposited, the Crop Trust, a partner in the project, said in a statement.

The trust also expects new seed samples from Sudan in February – another country suffering from war and famine.

Read more on RFI English

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