Global Seed vault- Safeguarding the earths future

Everything else
1

This was quite a surprise for me. From the website

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.

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 Seed Vault represents the world’s largest collection of crop diversity.

Worldwide, more than 1,700 genebanks hold collections of food crops for safekeeping, yet many of these are vulnerable, exposed not only to natural catastrophes and war, but also to avoidable disasters, such as lack of funding or poor management. Something as mundane as a poorly functioning freezer can ruin an entire collection. And the loss of a crop variety is as irreversible as the extinction of a dinosaur, animal or any form of life.

So, basically this a Noah’s ark for seeds? Impressive! I wonder what else is hidden away like this? DNA samples of animals? Humans?

2

I know what I would target first if I were a troll with a warhead.

3

Switzerland famously has an entire military infrastructure hidden in its mountains and motorways.

I’m not aware of a fauna equivalent of the seed bank. There is a languages one, though.

4

If I remember correctly, this Vault is one of the reasons everyone is so opposed to claims (from whatever country) on the polar area. It’s supposed to be global, and as such neutral. So if it would find itslef on, for example, Russian territory all of a sudden, that might cause problems.

Ofcourse, there’s lots of other reasons to oppose claims on the Poles aswell… ;-)

Cool (no pun intended) website!

5

There was actually a story, back in September, about how they had their first withdrawal of seeds. The Syrian civil war was the cause.

It’s pretty cool how this is there, though sad it had to be used already.

Well Svalbard it Norwegian, so it isn’t in some neutral unclaimed land, but is located on Norwegian sovereign land.

6

Ok, may not have remembered correctly then. :-)