Norway's 'Doomsday seed vault' becomes world's largest
Svalbard Global Seed Vault has become the world's most diverse collection of crop diversity
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By inthenews.co.uk staff.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault has become the world's most diverse collection of crop diversity after its inventory passed the half-million mark.
The "Doomsday" vault in Norway announced it is this week receiving thousands of new seeds that will push its collection to more than half a million unique samples, making it the most diverse assemblage of crop diversity ever collected anywhere in the world.
Among the seeds is a wild bean from South America that could be "critical for avoiding a crippling crop disease", a highly valuable strawberry species plucked by a collection team from the flanks of a volcano in Russia's remote Kuril Islands, and a treasure trove of soybeans from the United States.
"Reaching the half million mark brings mixed emotions, because while it shows that the vault at Svalbard is now the gold standard for diversity, it comes at a time when our agriculture systems are really sitting on a knife's edge," said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which partners with the Norwegian government and the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre in Sweden in operating the vault.
Mr Fowler says that with the recent climate talks in Copenhagen ending in stalemate over measures to slow climate change, there must now be greater efforts to adapt crops to higher temperatures.
"If crops and agriculture don't adapt to climate change, neither will humanity," Mr Fowler said.
"But to help farmers adapt, plant breeders need access to as much genetic diversity as possible to keep crops vigorous and productive in shifting climates."
Like all seeds coming to the vault, the samples are duplicates of seeds from other collections and are being sent to Svalbard for safekeeping, not for everyday use.