Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Welcome to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Way up north, in the permafrost, 1300 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle, is the world's largest secure seed storage, opened by the Norwegian Government in February 2008. From all across the globe, crates of seeds are sent here for safe and secure long-term storage in cold and dry rock vaults.
A global backstop
The vault hold the seeds of many tens of thousands of varieties of essential food crops such as beans, wheat and rice. In total, the vault now holds seeds of more than 4000 plant species. These seed samples are duplicates of seed sample stores in national, regional and international gene banks.
Seeds remain depositors' property
The Seed Bank was established and is fully funded by the Norwegian government, with the responsibility for operations assigned to The Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The Ministry coordinates daily operation with the Nordic Gene Resource Centre and the Global Crop Diversity Trust, and receives guidance from a dedicated international council established to advise the Seed Bank.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault – a new video
Way up north, in the permafrost, 1300 kilometers beyond the Arctic Circle, is the world's largest secure seed storage. A new video produced by the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food tells the story about the Vault.
Current
1 million seed samples are now stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
26/02/2018: Today, just over 76,000 new seed samples were carried into Svalbard Global Seed Vault for long-term storage. This means that the seed vault now holds more than 1 million seed samples from gene banks worldwide. Norway's Miinister for Agriculture and Food, Jon Georg Dale, hosted today's anniversary celebration as representatives from 23 international gene banks carried their seed samples into the vault.
Ten-year anniversary of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
22/02/2018: Minister of Agriculture and Food Jon Georg Dale in cooperation with Crop Trust and NordGen is pleased to host a celebration of the tenth anniversary of Svalbard Global Seed Vault. From February 25. to 27., depositors and partners from all over the world will meet in Longyearbyen to attend the "Seed Vault Summit", and to be present when a new seed delivery from 20 international gene banks is carried into the seed vault.
Latest news
- New suppliers for the seed vault News story 01/11/2019
- 1 million seed samples are now stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault News story 26/02/2018
- The government proposes to allocate 100 million NOK to upgrade the Svalbard Global Seed Vault News story 23/02/2018
- Ten-year anniversary of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault News story 22/02/2018
- New retrievement of seeds from Svalbard Global Seed Vault to replace Alleppo gene bank News story 06/09/2017
- Water intrusion at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault News story 22/05/2017
- New seeds from Syria to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault News story 27/02/2017