Seed vault offi­ci­al­ly ope­ned

On 26 Febru­ary the new seed vault or “Doomsday Vault” as it is often cal­led by the press was offi­ci­al­ly ope­ned. Loca­ted near Lon­gye­ar­by­en, it is sup­po­sed to be able to sur­vi­ve glo­bal cata­stro­phes inclu­ding nuclear wars, direct mis­sile attacks and extre­me cli­ma­te chan­ge. The pur­po­se is to store seeds of agri­cul­tu­ral plants to pre­ser­ve their diver­si­ty for future gene­ra­ti­ons in times of mas­si­ve loss of bio­di­ver­si­ty that we curr­ent­ly expe­ri­ence. The seed vault is Spitsbergen’s big­gest media issue sin­ce the Ita­lia-cata­stro­phe in 1928.

© both pho­tos: Mari Tefre/Global Crop Diver­si­ty.

For more infor­ma­ti­on, see: Glo­bal Crop Diver­si­ty Trust

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