The entrance to the world’s “doomsday seed vault,” perched high on a mountainside in Svalbard’s permafrost, could be straight out of a movie. In a frozen outpost surrounded by snow, 1.2 million seed samples from around the world are stored as a form of global insurance . This monument is a tribute to 12,000 years of human cultivation and was created to preserve cultivated species that might otherwise be lost forever due to war, natural disasters or pandemics.
See also: Starlink: The service is now available in Antarctica
The World Seed Vault, located in Arctic Norway and opened in 2008, is closed to the public and shrouded in mystery. This has inevitably led to it becoming the subject of many online conspiracy theories. However, to celebrate the vault's 15th anniversary, everyone can experience a virtual tour of the vast collection of seeds hidden deep in the mountain, behind five rows of steel doors.
The deep freeze, which lasts forever, is jointly managed by the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust and NordGen – a gene bank of the Nordic nations. With the potential to provide solutions to a wide range of agricultural problems caused by climate change, invasive species, pests, erratic rainfall and escalating biodiversity loss, the seeds housed here are rigorously researched. To further expand their collections and regularly replenish supplies – this seed bank opens three times a year to allow deposits from other similar institutions around the world. With the help of this virtual tour, the scientists are confident that people will be able to better understand and appreciate their work.
See also: Endurance shipwreck: Shackleton's ship found in Antarctica
The captivating virtual tour takes you through a tunnel deep into the mountain. After a while, you discover the “cathedral,” a three-chambered dwelling that can store around 3,000 boxes of seeds. Each sample is carefully sealed in an airtight aluminum bag and safely stored in its corresponding national container. As you navigate the corridors of this DIY warehouse, you can click on the individual country boxes to discover more interesting information.
Although the entrance to the facility was flooded with meltwater during the 2017 Svalbard heatwave, the seeds stored inside were safe. And while the Arctic island may be warming up due to climate change, since the seeds are stored in a seemingly permanent layer of ice, they will remain safe for centuries. New seeds are stored in the vaults every few decades, and if the freezers ever fail, it would take centuries for the temperature inside them to rise above freezing.
See also: UN: Confirmed the highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic
This week, the treasury received the first deposits from Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia and Benin, as well as wild strawberry varieties donated by a German research institute. Schmitz argues that plants like these could make a crucial contribution to feeding a growing population, especially in the face of climate change.
