ICARDA moved its headquarters to Beirut from Aleppo in 2012 because of the war. Grethe Evjen, an expert at the Norwegian Agriculture Ministry, said the seeds had been requested by the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA). But it was no longer able to maintain its role as a hub to grow seeds and distribute them to other nations, mainly in the Middle East. The Aleppo seed bank has kept partly functioning, including a cold storage, despite the conflict. Dubbed the 'Doomsday Vault,' the seed bank on a remote. Even if the power were to fail, the vault would stay frozen and sealed for at least 200 years. Ultimate safety net for the world's seed collections has opened in Norway The vault received inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds. It has more than 860,000 samples, from almost all nations. The vault, which opened on the Svalbard archipelago in 2008, is designed to protect crop seeds - such as beans, rice and wheat - against the worst cataclysms of nuclear war or disease. ![]() "Protecting the world's biodiversity in this manner is precisely the purpose of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault," said Brian Lainoff, a spokesman for the Crop Trust, which runs the underground storage on a Norwegian island 1,300 km (800 miles) from the North Pole. (REUTERS/Bob Strong)The seeds, including samples of wheat, barley and grasses suited to dry regions, have been requested by researchers elsewhere in the Middle East to replace seeds in a gene bank near the Syrian city of Aleppo that has been damaged by the war. That same bank has been damaged by war in the region, prompting the first withdrawal of seeds from Norway's global vault. In 2012, chick peas and fava beans from a Syrian seed facility were deposited in the vault. Original article on Live Science.A guard stands watch outside the Global Seed Vault before the opening ceremony in Longyearbyen February 26, 2008. Follow Live Science, Facebook & Google+. The entrance to the old seed vault in Mine 3, which was opened in 1984. This is a bank of seeds for all plants known to humanity. You can learn more about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and take a virtual tour of the underground facility by visiting the Crop Trust website.įollow Elizabeth Palermo techEpalermo. Opening a new doomsday vault in Svalbard Sometime in the future, when the amount of 'fake news' has become so large and complex the truth is unclear, one will be able to enter the data vault in Mine 3 and check the facts. 3 Comments 10/19/15 In a mountain deep in the Arctic Archipelago is the Svarlbard Global Seed Vault, or the Doomsday Vault. In total, the vault can handle about 2.5 billion seeds (or about 500 seeds each from about 4.5 million varieties of crops). Right now, the vault holds just less than 865,000 seed samples from all over the world, but it's capable of holding many more. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, opened by the Norwegian government and its partners in 2008, stores backup agricultural seed collections, ensuring global. The Global Seed Vault has been dubbed the doomsday vault, which conjures up an image of a reserve of seeds for use in case of an apocalyptic event or a global catastrophe. ![]() Carved into the Arctic landscape, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault as it’s more officially known is. ![]() Located about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from the North Pole, the area surrounding the vault is extremely remote, secluded and home to a number of polar bears. The Arctic 'Doomsday Vault' in Svalbard receives nearly 50,000 new seed samples, one of the largest deposits since the repository opened nearly 10 years ago. The Doomsday Vault is opening its doors to receive new offerings from gene banks this week. There are also the Svalbard archipelago's most notorious security guards to consider. The vault is secured by four sets of locked doors, according to the Crop Trust. Should the power at the facility fail for any reason, the seeds will likely stay frozen thanks to the permafrost that covers the vault.Īnd there's very little chance that any ne'er-do-wells could make off with the world's most precious supply of seeds. Seeds stored in the Svalbard vault, which is built right into a sandstone mountain and covered in a thick layer of permafrost, are kept at an icy minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius). ![]() "If something were to happen to one of those collections around the world, they can always come back to the seed vault and retrieve what might have been lost," Lainoff told The WorldPost. Sometimes called the doomsday vault, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is. The vault will initially contain 10 million seeds (250,000 varieties of plants) from countries around the globe. The Global Seed Vault opened in 2008 on Svalbard, Norway, above the Arctic Circle. Constructed as a sort of last-ditch effort at protecting plants from extinction, the seed bank is meant to serve as a backup for gene banks like ICARDA, Lainoff said. The media have nicknamed it the doomsday vault.
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