Welcome to the new seedvault.no
The Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food proudly presents the new seedvault.no, a dynamic online platform with an emphasis on videos dedicated to educate and enlighten our global audience about food security and environmental sustainability. Inspired by the crucial role of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in preserving global crop diversity, this website offers a…
Svalbard Global Seed Vault presented at Plant Treaty meeting in Kigali, Rwanda
Beautiful greenery, the African sun and +22°C (71°F) might not be the scenery most associated with Svalbard Global Seed Vault. But this week the Seed Vault, or at least representatives of it, travelled south to participate in valuable discussions concerning access and rights to plant’s genetic resources. – These are important issues as we are standing…
The History
The idea of having a global security storage facility in Svalbard, to house duplicates of seed conserved in gene banks all over the world began being discussed in the 1980s.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault – Theme for World Food Prize 2024
The World Prize Foundation announces that “Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin and Dr. Cary Fowler will receive the 2024 World Food Prize for their extraordinary leadership in preserving and protecting the world’s heritage of biodiversity and mobilizing this critical resource to defend against threats to global food security.” In 2004, Dr. Cary Fowler and Dr. Geoffery Hawtin…
February 2024: Norwegian Minister of Agriculture and Food welcomes the largest number of new gene banks depositing seeds to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault since its opening in 2008
Geir Pollestad, Minister of Agriculture and Food welcomed the seeds from the eight gene banks that deposited seeds for the first time and the 13 recurrent gene banks, together with representatives from the partners: Jaspreet Stamm, Director of External Affairs, CropTrust and Lise Lykke Steffensen, CEO, NordGen. Representatives from the Kazach gene bank, one of…
The largest diversity of crop species in the Seed Vault
The German Genebank Department at the IPK in Gatersleben organizes regularly the so called Vavilov seminars for employees and guests. The gene bank deposits regularly safety duplicates of their seed collection in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, and a presentation about the Seed Vault and its cooperation with IPK was on the agenda for the Vavilov seminar this week.
The Seed Vault Summit calls for action to save crop diversity
Presentations were given by experts in in situ and ex situ conservation and the sustainable use of plant genetic resources. The presentations can be downloaded from this website. Crucial to future food supplies An editing committee chaired by Jonathan Drori from the UK’s Eden Project assisted by representatives from the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and…
One million seed samples deposited
The difference in figures is due to the fact that ICARDA, as the first gene bank, has withdrawn seeds from the Vault. During its ten years of operation, 76 institutes have shipped seeds to the Seed Vault. 23 of these participated in the celebration and brought new seeds to the Vault collection during a ceremony…
Media
Media We have an extensive collection of videos featuring both the vault itself, our depositors and the history of the Seed Vault. You can download these videos by clicking on the settings within the video players, and choosing “download”. Read our terms for use and distribution before you further distribute these videos. Short versions Archive…
For the General Public
When the Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened to receive seed samples from the world’s gene banks, it received enormous attention from the global media and the public at large. That interest has not subsided. Those associated with the sector of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture have seen increased public awareness and commitment focused on contributing to safeguarding crop diversity.