Doomsday Seed Vault’s Stores Are Growing

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, often referred to as the “doomsday” seed vault, continues to expand its collection as researchers work diligently to preserve crop varieties from potential extinction. Located in the Norwegian Arctic, this facility has become a critical safeguard for global food security[1].

Expanding Collection

As of 2024, the Seed Vault holds more than 1.3 million seed varieties originating from almost every country in the world[4]. This diverse collection includes:

• Major African and Asian food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea, and sorghum
• European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley, and potato
• Seeds from the Cherokee Nation, marking the first deposit from an Indigenous group from North America[4]

The vault has the capacity to store 4.5 million varieties of crops, with each seed packet containing an average of 500 seeds[4].

Climate Change and Food Security

The preservation of these seeds is crucial for protecting the global food supply against devastating crop losses due to climate change. Cary Fowler, a key figure in the creation of the Seed Vault, emphasizes that these resources “stand between us and catastrophic starvation”[1].

Climate change poses significant threats to agriculture:

• A study found that corn yields in Africa could fall by 30% by 2030 without heat-resistant varieties
• Current crops may not evolve quickly enough to adjust to predicted drought, rising temperatures, and new pests and diseases[1]

Relevance to Human Survival

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault plays a crucial role in ensuring human survival in the face of global challenges:

1. Food Security: By preserving a wide variety of crop seeds, the vault provides a backup for the world’s food supply, crucial for feeding a growing global population[4].
2. Climate Adaptation: The stored seeds offer genetic diversity essential for developing crop varieties that can withstand changing climate conditions[1].
3. Biodiversity Conservation: The vault safeguards agricultural biodiversity, which is vital for maintaining ecosystem health and resilience[3].
4. Disaster Recovery: In case of local or global catastrophes, the seed vault can provide the means to restart agricultural production[2].
5. Scientific Research: The collection serves as a valuable resource for scientists working on crop improvement and food security solutions[4].

Future Developments

Efforts are underway to enhance the vault’s utility:

• Cataloguing genetic traits of stored seeds to speed up the development of new varieties
• Making the gene bank’s information public to spur research
• Increasing breeding efforts for underrepresented crops like bananas and yams[1]

As climate disasters fuel the rise of such “doomsday” seed vaults, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault stands as a testament to global cooperation in preserving the foundation of our food systems for future generations[1][3].

Read More
^{[1] https://www.axios.com/2023/09/01/seed-vaults-food-insecurity-climate-change
[2] https://time.com/doomsday-vault/
[3] https://www.isaaa.org/blog/entry/default.asp?BlogDate=3%2F8%2F2023
[4] https://www.croptrust.org/work/svalbard-global-seed-vault/
[5] https://olli.berkeley.edu/blog/banking-growing-seed-viability-seed-savers
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
[7] https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/food-fisheries-and-agriculture/svalbard-global-seed-vault/id462220/
[8] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-10-25/global-food-roundup-doomsday-seed-vault-safeguards-future-crops}