scientists propose another doomsday vault

By 3000, he thinks Africa will need to draw on their reserves to revitalise its biodiversity. The action plan sees subterranean seed vaults embedded in the geologically stable ground in 2025, followed by the construction of a modular building for the agricultural institute in 2030.Ĭassidy imagines the demise of the facility by 2500, leaving only the test tube-like seed vaults. 'To further this point – the first withdrawal of seeds from the Svalbard International Seed Vault was made recently by Syria, due to its ongoing devastation.'Ĭlimate change is already disrupting the ecosystem around Kilimanjaro, with scientists foreseeing the complete disappearance of the mountain's ice cap as early as 2030.Ĭassidy's project follows the lifespan of the facility from the present day to the year 3000, showing how the design could adapt to the changing environment.

'It acts as an insurance policy for the preservation of biodiversity, which at one point if called upon can revitalise and replenish areas in crisis,' he explained.

'It seems crazy to think that this offering is not present in somewhere like Africa, a continent which revolves around agriculture for its livelihood.' 'The importance of the seed cannot be underestimated – it acts as the basis for our everyday lives, what we eat, wear, use and without them,' said Cassidy in his project statement. Seed samples for some of the world’s most vital food sources like the potato, sorghum, rice, barley, chickpea, lentil and wheat will be deposited at Svalbard in the coming days, bringing the total number of seed samples at the facility to 930,821.Related story Climate change forces emergency repairs to 'failsafe' Arctic seed vault That we can rely on our gene banks and their safety duplications, despite adverse circumstances, so we can get one step closer to a food secure world.” To support the Crop Trust’s critical work at Svalbard and gene banks around the world, GoPro for a Cause, GoPro’s program dedicated to impact storytelling for non-profit organizations, launched a fundraising initiative and short documentary Wednesday to help the Svalbard Seed Vault ensure ongoing crop conservation. Crop diversity is a fundamental foundation for the end of hunger.” Nearly every country has agreed on the importance on conserving crop diversity through Target 2.5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to conserve agricultural diversity in seed collections.

“Together, the nations that have deposited their seed collections account for over a quarter of the world’s population. “Today’s seed deposit at Svalbard supported by the Crop Trust shows that despite political and economic differences in other arenas, collective efforts to conserve crop diversity and produce a global food supply for tomorrow continue to be strong,” Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, said when speaking from the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. By preserving duplicate samples of seeds held in gene banks worldwide, the vault provides a “fail safe” insurance against loss of crop diversity caused by climate change, natural disaster or war. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s largest collection of agricultural biodiversity, is a safe and secure vault supported by the Crop Trust which can store up to 4.5 million samples of crops from all over the world. The preparation and shipment of seeds to the facility has been funded in-part by the Crop Trust, the only organization working worldwide to create, fund and manage an efficient and effective global system of seed collections. A major seed deposit critical to ensuring global food security was made to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic Circle on Wednesday.ĭespite a backdrop of geopolitical volatility, nearly 50,000 samples of seeds from seed collections in Benin, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Netherlands, the U.S, Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus and the U.K have traveled to the vault on the Svalbard archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole on Wednesday for long-term safekeeping.

Scientists propose another doomsday vault