In a remarkable boost to global efforts to protect crop diversity, fourteen gene banks from around the world have deposited more than 11,200 seed samples into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault this week. This massive addition underscores the critical role of preserving seeds to ensure future food security amid challenges like climate change and natural disasters.
Nestled deep within the Arctic permafrost on Norway’s remote Svalbard archipelago, the Seed Vault is the world’s largest secure backup facility for crop diversity. With this 67th deposit, it now safeguards over 1.3 million seed samples from every corner of the globe.
“This vault is like a safety net for the planet’s agricultural biodiversity,” said Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Crop Trust, one of the facility’s managing partners. “These new additions offer another snapshot of the rich diversity now held here.”
The latest deposits include a fascinating array of seeds: South Korea’s perilla and adzuki beans, Dutch heritage varieties of cabbage and spinach, and Benin’s ancient cereal fonio and melon. These seeds are not just vital for nutrition and climate resilience; they also represent the deep connections between crops and cultural identities worldwide.
“They reflect how cultural heritage is intertwined with the survival of often-overlooked plant varieties that are vital to the future of food,” Schmitz added.
Gene banks from countries including Austria, Benin, Kenya, Lebanon, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam, and Zambia contributed a total of 31 boxes of seeds.
“The value of these seeds is immense,” said Hanne-Berit Brekken, Norway’s state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. “They will support scientists, breeders, and farmers in preparing our food systems to face both natural and human-made challenges.”
Established in 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault aims to protect the genetic diversity of the world’s food crops from threats such as war, climate change, and natural disasters. With the capacity to store up to 4.5 million distinct seed varieties, it serves as a global insurance policy for agriculture, housing duplicates from gene banks worldwide—and making sure our future is rooted in diversity.
