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…
India eager to deposit more seeds in Svalbard
India has one of the largest plant germplasm collections in the world, hosted in the National Gene Bank at ICAR National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi. The NBPGR has only just started to deposit security samples in the Seed Vault, but is eager to speed up this process significantly, hopefully with new seed shipments to Svalbard later this year.
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.
About
About the Seed Vault
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The Seed Vault also employs an artificial cooling system that keeps the seeds at a constant -18 C, but the permafrost ensures that the seed samples will remain frozen for a long time, even in the event of no artificial cooling.
palhermansen01
The Seed Vault also employs an artificial cooling system that keeps the seeds at a constant -18 C, but the permafrost ensures that the seed samples will remain frozen for a long time, even in the event of no artificial cooling.
HMONG
The Seed Vault also employs an artificial cooling system that keeps the seeds at a constant -18 C, but the permafrost ensures that the seed samples will remain frozen for a long time, even in the event of no artificial cooling.
FutureFest
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault was presented at the FutrureFest festival in London on the 6th of July. After the presentations Prof. Rodney Harrison (right)chaired a discussion about future conservation of cultural heritage, represented by Martin Kunze from the MOM project (left), DNA samples by Mafalda Costa from Frozen Ark and seeds represented by Åsmund Asdal, Svalbard Global Seed Vault /NordGen.
Seed Vault named one of the 50 most influential projects
The organisation Project Management Institute has named Svalbard Global Seed Vault the 10th most influential project during the last 50 years. The Seed Vault is recognised “for building the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply”.
JamnadassMuchugiCarrying seeds
Ramni Jamnadass (left) and Alice Muchugi from the World Agroforestry Center,(ICRAF) in Kenya carried one seed box containing 318 seed samples of 12 different tree species important for tropical food production into the Seed Vault. (Photo: NordGen)