Svalbard Global Seed Vault
| Svalbard Global Seed Vault | |
|---|---|
| Svalbard globale frøhvelv | |
.jpg) | |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Seed bank |
| Location | Spitsbergen |
| Country | Norway |
| Coordinates | 78°14′09″N 15°29′29″E / 78.235867°N 15.491374°ECoordinates: 78°14′09″N 15°29′29″E / 78.235867°N 15.491374°E |
| Elevation | 130 m (430 ft) |
| Groundbreaking | 19 June 2006[1] |
| Cost | Template:NOK (US$8.8 million, 2008) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 1 |
| Floor area | c. 1,000 m2 (c. 11,000 sq ft)[3] |
| Awards and prizes | Norwegian Lighting Prize for 2009 No. 6 TIME's Best Inventions of 2008 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a seed bank (a place where seeds are kept) in Norway. It is on the island of Spitsbergen, near Longyearbyen, in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago. It is about 1,300 kilometres (810 miles) from the North Pole.[4] Conservationist Cary Fowler worked with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR),[5] to start the vault.
The vault is there to save many different kinds of plant seeds. The seeds at the vault are copies of seeds from other places around the world. Copies of seeds are kept in case the seeds in other places are lost. Three organizations decided how to manage the vault. Those organizations were the Norwegian government, the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).[6]
The Norwegian government paid for building the vault. It cost about 45 million Norwegian kroner (US$9 million) to build.[7] Storing seeds in the vault is free. Norway and GCDT pay to operate the vault. GCDT gets money from organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and from different governments worldwide.[8]
Svalbard Global Seed Vault Media
Cary Fowler at the Seed Vault during its construction
Seed storage containers on metal shelving inside the vault
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was inaugurated in February 2008 as a secure backup facility for the world's crop diversity on the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. As of February 2025 it has received seed samples from 123 genebanks in 85 countries around the world. Photo: Michael Major for Crop Trust
References
- ↑ "Work begins on Arctic seed vault". BBC News. 19 June 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5094450.stm. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ↑ Mellgren, Doug (27 February 2008). 'Doomsday' seed vault opens in Arctic. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23352014/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/doomsday-seed-vault-opens-arctic/. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ↑ Svalbard Global Seed Vault: The Location. Regjeringen.no. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ↑ Charles, Daniel. A 'Forever' Seed Bank Takes Root in the Arctic. Science 312 (5781) (23 June 2006). p. 1730–1731. doi:10.1126/science.312.5781.1730b.
- ↑ Siebert, Charles. Food Ark. National Geographic 220 (1) (July 2011). p. 108–131. OCLC 741814684. Retrieved 2017-02-24.
- ↑ What is NordGen?. Nordgen.org. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ↑ Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Frequently Asked Questions. Regjeringen.no. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
- ↑ Donors. CropTrust.org. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
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