![]() ![]() ![]() Once the fresh seeds were successfully regrown at these two locations, they were deposited again at Svalbard last year, with more seeds expected this year. The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (Icarda), which handles the gene bank in Aleppo and other research centres globally, took seed samples that had been deposited at Svalbard to duplicate the seed collection in Aleppo at gene banks in Lebanon and Morocco. A recent example comes from war-stricken Syria, where the gene bank in Aleppo was left inaccessible in 2015. They can withdraw them in case of an emergency. All gene banks that deposit their seeds still technically own them. We need these varieties because of climate change, increasing food production, dry and wet climate conditions, new plant diseases, and so on," says Asdal.Īsdal says the vault, described as everything from the “doomsday vault" to a “Noah’s Ark" for the world’s seeds, offers a safe place for duplicate samples of seeds that are conserved in gene banks across the world. Genetic resources of crops are the raw material that agricultural breeders and researchers need to develop the varieties. Some gene banks were established even before World War II. “Gene banks have been collecting seeds, multiplying and distributing them for breeding and research for more than 50 years. Åsmund Asdal, who has been the coordinator at Svalbard since 2015. Speaking to Lounge in a Skype call, Åsmund Asdal, Svalbard Global Seed Vault coordinator, explains why there is a need to preserve new varieties of crops and seeds. The facility is managed through an agreement between the Norwegian ministry of agriculture and food, the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre (NordGen), and the Crop Trust (formerly known as the Global Crop Diversity Trust). The vault, which completed 10 years in February, is owned by the Norwegian government. With seed samples from more than 76 global depositor institutes, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located on the Spitzbergen island, practically holds the world’s agricultural history-and perhaps the future. On one of these islands, deep inside a sandstone mountain, a secure facility holds the future of the agricultural world’s genetic resources. More than half of the archipelago is covered with glaciers. There are scattered patches of green-the mountains and fjords-that are easily overshadowed by the white, which represents the extreme Arctic climate in Svalbard. ![]() This small Norwegian archipelago has the Greenland Sea on one side and the Arctic Ocean on the other. Google Maps search results for Svalbard make for an intriguing sight. ![]()
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