New seeds in place in Svalbard

Nordic Genressurssenter (NordGen)LONGYEARBYEN.Nordic Genressurssenter (NordGen).Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB scanpix

 

Seven boxes of seeds from Japan and the United States have been placed in the seed vault in Svalbard. The event gets international attention.

The seeds arrived by plane on Tuesday before being transported up to the vault on the outskirts of Longyearbyen. Several TV companies were present to capture the delivery.
The seeds in question are 3,000 different types of barley seeds from Japan and around 430 types of vegetable seeds from the United States,  Brian Lainoff, Communications Director of The Crop Trust, said to the news agency NTB.
Inside the vault, the seeds are recorded and stored.
– Then we take pictures and send to contributors with the message that the seeds now lie safely in the vault, says Lainoff.
The seed vault, which lies at the foot of the Plateau Mountain, is a safety stock for the world’s genebanks. It offers free storage of seeds from food and crops from around the world. If seeds are lost, eg as a result of natural disasters, war or lack of resources, the seed collections may be reestablished by using seeds from Svalbard.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today