Seeds from four continents
Seeds from six gene banks were deposited in the Seed Vault this week; the International CGIAR centres in Peru (CIP) and Ethiopia (ILRI) and from two ICARDA stations, in Lebanon and Morocco respectively. National gene banks in Czeck Republic and United Kingdom sent seeds and also the regional gene bank for countries in Southern Africa, SPGRC.
15-year-olds in Svalbard celebrates the “15 year old” Svalbard Global Seed Vault on 28 February 2023
The 15-year-olds in Svalbard assisted when new 20,000 seed samples from 20 gene banks from all over the world were carried into the seed vault. They marked the 15th anniversary of the seed vault by placing seeds of modern Graminor grains in the same glass tube used during the foundation stone laying in 2006. At that time, there were 5 Nordic Prime Ministers who added modern seed varieties.
In 2020: The Svalbard Global Seed Vault Welcomes Record Number of Depositors
After the completion of the technical upgrade of the Seed Vault in late 2019, new and old depositing genebanks participated in a major seed deposit in February 2020. The event welcomed participants from five continents, including representatives from 35 genebanks.
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.
The Seed Vault inspires world leaders to champion the safeguarding of the world’s seeds
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault received the largest seed deposit since its 2008 opening on February 24, 2020. In recognition of the importance of this deposit, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg invited fellow members of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocacy Group to participate in the seed deposit, and then to attend the Svalbard Seed Summit to prepare and present an Arctic Call to Action on Food Security and Climate Change. The members who attended braved an arctic snow storm and temperatures of 20°C to cheer on representatives of 28 genebanks who were depositing their seeds in the Seed Vault.
First Slovak seeds deposited in Seed Vault
This time of year, the last rays of sun give Svalbard a magical blue light. And both the Slovak and Norwegian Ministers of Agriculture could enjoy it as they attended the first ever Slovak seed deposit. The seeds from the Slovak genebank were in good company as they were carried into Svalbard Global Seed Vault along with seeds from Poland, Sudan and ICARDA.
“New chapter in history” as Poland signs depositor’s agreement
The Polish flag next to the Norwegian, thick agreement papers and a room full of anticipation. As the head of the Polish Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR) recently signed the depositor’s agreement, IHAR became institution number 77 to join the Svalbard Global Seed Vault depositors’ family. The first box containing 406 seed samples is now on its way to Svalbard.
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The second Seed Vault storage hall was taken in use this year, as the first hall is nearly filled up with more than one million seed samples. Seed Vault coordinator Åsmund Asdal is putting seed boxes from the SPGRC regional genebank located in Zambia into the shelves, above seed boxes from South-Korea. Five boxes from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on the opposite shelf.
Seeds from unique forage collection deposited in the Seed Vault
Seeds from the world’s arguably most diverse and unique forage collection were deposited in Svalbard Global Seed Vault today. In a country with about 30 million sheep to its 3 million inhabitants, forages are an important part of the economy. The Margot Forde Forage Germplasm Centre plans to continue to back up its collection at Svalbard- as they consider it an obvious choice for the gene bank material’s second backup.
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The national RDA genebank in Republic of Korea deposited seeds in the Seed Vault for the second time, in total 10000 samples of approximately ten cereal and legume species. The 18 boxes from South-Korea were brought into the Vault by Seed Vault coordinator Åsmund Asdal.