Knowledge
What will you eat in case of a global catastrophe?
A seed vault has been built some 1300 km from the North Pole to conserve and store seed samples from around the world. It is seen as the last hope in case of a global catastrophe.
1,300 km from the North Pole is a futuristic looking building wedged 120 meters in a sandstone mountain. With dual blast-proof doors, motion sensors, 2 airlocks, and walls of steel-reinforced concrete 1 meter thick you will be forgiven if you think it is a building right out of a spy movie.
This building is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, purportedly holding the last hope of humanity. Yes you read that right, maybe thats why its also come to be called The Doomsday Vault. It is a secure seed bank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.
Conservationist Cary Fowler, in association with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), started the vault to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds that are duplicate samples, or "spare" copies of seeds held in gene banks worldwide. The seed vault is an attempt to insure against the loss of seeds in other gene banks during large-scale regional or global crises.
Opened in 2008, the seed vault is entirely funded by the Norwegian government and cost approximately NOK 45 million (US$9 million) to construct. Storing seeds in the vault is free to end users, with Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust paying for operational costs. Primary funding for the Trust comes from organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and from various governments worldwide.
Spitsbergen was considered the ideal site due to a variety of reasons. Firstly, it lacked tectonic activity and secondly has permafrost which aids in preservation. Also, it being 130 metres above sea level will keep the site dry even if the ice caps were to melt. Locally mined coal provides power for refrigeration units that further cool the seeds to the internationally recommended standard of −18 °C. Lastly, even if the refrigeration were to fail, at least several weeks will elapse before the facility rises to the surrounding sandstone bedrock's temperature of −3 °C. The facility is frozen even colder than the permafrost, so that if the earth warms and the power goes out, the vault will stay frozen for another 25 years, ensuring that our plant and food kingdom survives long after.
To ensure longevity, the over 865,000 variety of seeds stored here are packaged in special four-ply packets and heat sealed to exclude moisture. The facility is managed by the Nordic Genetic Resource Center, though there are no permanent staff on-site.
Even with a planning that is so obviously oriented towards the future, humanity didn’t have to wait for too long to dip into this precious stock stowed away at the North Pole, for the war in Syria prompted the first withdrawal from the seed vault.
Image Courtesy: https://www.regjeringen.no