The famous “Svalbard Global Seed Vault” celebrates its 15th anniversary these days. It was opened in February 2008 – that was one of the very first news on this site – and the anniversary was now celebrated on Sunday in Svalbardmuseum.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault: 15th anniversary celebrations these days.
This is the tunnel that leads to the actual vault in the mountain behind Longyearbyen airport.
The anniversary has attracted international media attention. Secretary of agriculture Sandra Borch should have joined the celebrations on Sunday, but she was not able to board her flight from Tromsø to Longyearbyen because she had forgotten her passport.
During the initial years of its existence, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) had to deal with various technical difficulties that required expensive technical upgrades. By now, approximately 1.2 million seed samples are stored in the vault. There is enough space for up to 4.5 million samples. All of these are from crop plants around the world, the Seed Vault does not store seeds of natural plants.
One of three chambers of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is not accessible to the public. The operator organisation has announced a virtual tour to make the Seed Vault accessible at least online.
Something that has been availabel on this website already for years 🙂 Click here for a virtual tour of the famous Svalbard Global Seed Vault.