Seed vault is growing

The seed vault near Longyearbyen, that is supposed to secure global gene resources for future generations, has now more than half a million samples of seeds from food crops. This makes Spitsbergen’s seed vault the largest collection of its kind in the world.

The latest samples include highly resistant beans from South America, strawberries from the Kuriles in the northern Pacific and American soja beans.

The seed vault was opened in February 2008. The arctic permafrost protects seeds of corn, beans, and other culture crops from plant disease, climate change, war impact and natural desaster. So far, only one out of three chambers is in use; the other ones are supposed to be used in 25 and 100 years, respectively.

Source: Svalbardposten