“Doomsday Vault” Protects Earth’s Food Supply – Here’s How

In Norway’s Svalbard archipielago, in a remote mountain on Spitsbergen we find “The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a doomsday shelter for the food supply”

As per National Geographic’s article, “Today the wide range of plants that humans have relied on throughout history is threatened by the clones of modern industrial agriculture, new diseases, and climate change” (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/future-of-food/norway-svalbard-global-seed-vault/?beta=true).  This vault has an entrance tunnel kept at 18 Celsius degrees or 0 Fahrenheit degrees to make sure that the seeds do not suffer any damage during a cataclysm.  Regretfully, “Noah’s Ark for seeds” (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/future-of-food/norway-svalbard-global-seed-vault/?beta=true) location is suffering the effects of global warming faster than any other place and the precious cargo might be in danger.

As per the operations and management coordinator of the facility, the seeds stored do not belong to endangered plants but “We keep plants here that are important for the production of food”( https://news.nationalgeographic.com/future-of-food/norway-svalbard-global-seed-vault/?beta=true).

Although it was not planned, the vault had to be opened to give some seeds back to Syrian scientists who wanted to replicate them as a precautionary measure.  “Those seeds are needed by plant researchers who are working on the next crops to be planted in the Middle East and beyond, in order to try to stay a step ahead of pests and drought and increase yields to feed a growing population” (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150923-svalbard-doomsday-arctic-seed-vault-syrian-crisis-pictures/).  (1 image, 2 links, 3 quotations, 241 words)