KUALA LUMPUR, June 23 — The Arctic ‘Doomsday Vault’, officially known as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, known as the world’s largest repository of crop diversity is a global initiative designed to safeguard the genetic diversity of the world’s crops.

Located in the remote Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, the seed vault functions as a secure backup storage facility for seeds from gene banks worldwide to preserve agricultural biodiversity and ensure global food security.

The primary purpose of the vault is to ensure the long-term preservation of crop seeds, providing a crucial safety net against various disasters that could threaten essential food crops.

These potential threats include climate change, wars, natural disasters, and plant diseases.

The Seed Vault acts as the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply, safeguarding millions of seeds that represent every important crop variety available today which offers future generations the resources to tackle challenges posed by climate change and population growth.

How are they kept?

For optimal storage, the seeds are kept at a temperature of -18 degrees Celsius and the surrounding permafrost and thick rock ensure that the seeds remain frozen even if there is a power failure.

The seeds are sealed in custom-made, three-ply foil packages, which are then placed inside boxes and stored on shelves within the Seed Vault. The low temperature and moisture levels inside the vault ensure minimal metabolic activity, preserving the seeds' viability for extended periods.

The history behind the Seed Vault

The storage of the vault

Types of seeds in the vault

The seeds housed in the Seed Vault encompass a wide array of crop varieties, including farmers' land races, breeding materials, and wild plants that potentially contribute genes to new crop varieties. Currently, the Seed Vault safeguards over 5,000 plant species.

Among the most numerous accessions stored in the Seed Vault are varieties of rice, wheat, and barley, with more than 150,000 samples of wheat and rice combined, and nearly 80,000 samples of barley.

Other prominently represented crops include sorghum (over 50,000 accessions), Phaseolus bean species (more than 40,000), maize (over 35,000), cowpea (over 30,000), soybean (over 25,000), kikuyu grass, and chickpea, each with more than 20,000 seed samples. Additionally, crops such as potatoes, peanuts, Cajanus beans, oats, rye, alfalfa, the cereal hybrid Tritikosecale, and Brassica species are represented by between 10,000 and 20,000 seed samples.

These seeds originate from numerous countries worldwide, reflecting the global collaboration of gene banks in conserving genetic diversity.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/06/23/explainer-what-is-the-arctic-doomsday-vault-what-does-it-do/139750