In a stunning global achievement made possible by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, an organization with the mission "to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide," on February 26, 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, nicknamed the 'Doomsday Vault' officially opened.
Located within the Arctic Circle on Spitsbergen Island, 620,000 miles from the North Pole, in an area that is completely dark 4 months out of the year, deep underground beneath thick layers of permafrost and encased by thick rocks, in specially sealed boxes and held at a temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius, up to 4.5 million seed samples, representing agriculture biodiversity from around the globe, will be held in what is being called the 'ultimate safety network' for preserving crop diversity and securing the promise of restarting agricultural growth in the case of disaster, climate change, war, disease, or human mismanagement.
The Vault was built to withstand earthquakes and nuclear attacks, and even in a worse-case, global warming scenario, would remain frozen for 200 years.
Owned by Norway's government, the Global Seed Vault was established as a service to the world to protect and ensure survival of what some consider the 'world's most important natural resource'.
In retrospect, establishment of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault may beome acknowledged as one of the most significant achievements of this century.
To learn more about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, visit the Global Crop Diversity Trust website. www.croptrust.org
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