Svalbard Global Seed Vault
| Svalbard Global Seed Vault | |
|---|---|
| Svalbard globale frøhvelv | |
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Seed bank |
| Location | Spitsbergen |
| Town or city | Longyearbyen |
| Country | Norway |
| Coordinates | 78°14′09″N 15°29′29″E / 78.235867°N 15.491374°ECoordinates: 78°14′09″N 15°29′29″E / 78.235867°N 15.491374°E |
| Elevation | 130 m (430 ft) |
| Groundbreaking | 19 June 2006 |
| Opened | 26 February 2008 |
| Cost | 45 million kr (US$9 million) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 1 |
| Floor area | ~1,000 m2 (~11,000 sq ft) |
| Awards and prizes | Norwegian Lighting Prize for 2009 No.6 TIME's Best Inventions of 2008 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure seed bank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) from the North Pole. Conservationist Cary Fowler, in association with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), started the vault to preserve a wide variety of plant seeds that are duplicate samples, or "spare" copies, of seeds held in gene banks worldwide. The seed vault is an attempt to insure against the loss of seeds in other genebanks during large-scale regional or global crises. The seed vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement between the Norwegian government, the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).
The Norwegian government entirely funded the vault's approximately 45 million kr (US$9 million) construction. Storing seeds in the vault is free to end users, with Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust paying for operational costs. Primary funding for the Trust comes from organisations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and from various governments worldwide.
The Nordic Gene Bank (NGB) has, since 1984, stored backup Nordic plant germplasm via frozen seeds in an abandoned coal mine at Svalbard, over the years depositing more than 10,000 seed samples of more than 2,000 cultivars for 300 different species. The Nordic collection has for years duplicated seed samples from the Southern African Development Community. Both the Nordic and African collections have been transferred to the new Svalbard Global Seed Vault facility. On 1 January 2008 the Nordic Gene Bank was integrated with NordGen.
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