What is the purpose of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?

The purpose of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is to provide insurance against both incremental and catastrophic loss of crop diversity held in genebanks around the world. The Seed Vault offers secure protection for one of the most important natural resources on earth. It serves as an essential element in a global network of facilities that conserve crop diversity and make it available for use in plant breeding and research.

Unfortunately, a significant portion of the agricultural diversity that has existed on farms has been lost, especially in the last century. Thankfully, much of that diversity has been collected and stored in genebanks before it disappeared. Genebanks play a vital role in conserving varieties of crops that can no longer be found in farmers’ fields.

But genebanks are not 100% safe. Subject to funding cuts, equipment malfunction, energy failure, natural disasters, civil strife, war, or simple mismanagement, some genebanks have lost portions of their collections. The loss of a seed sample can mean the extinction of the variety it represents, and the loss of the opportunity to benefit from that variety’s unique characteristics. Each loss of a sample therefore decreases the options available to agriculture worldwide.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the world’s only global backup seed storage facility for crop diversity. The Seed Vault provides a safety duplication of seed samples stored in genebanks worldwide, including international, national, and regional institutes. If the depositors lose samples in their own genebanks, they will be able to retrieve the duplicates stored at Svalbard, and replenish their collections.

The Seed Vault does not solve the problem of continued loss of diversity in farmers’ fields, but does provide a safety net for the genebanks working to conserve what diversity has been collected. Furthermore, in the case of a large-scale regional or even global disaster, the remote and secure location of the Seed Vault gives the seeds representing the world’s agricultural diversity the best chance of survival.

What are the main differences between the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and other genebanks?

The Seed Vault is a kind of insurance policy for other genebanks. Plant breeders and researchers depend on genebanks around the world to obtain varieties with useful traits that they need. If those genebanks lose their own resources, because of natural or man-made disaster, the collections can be restored by retrieving the copies from Svalbard.

The distance from the front door of the portal building to the back of the Seed Vault is  approximately 145.9 meters (478.7 feet). The width of the each storage room is approximately 9.5 to 10 meters (31.2 to 32.8 feet), the height is 6 meters (19.7 feet), and the length is approximately 27 meters (88.6 feet).

The Seed Vault is owned by the Government of Norway.

Who runs the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?

An International Advisory Council oversees the management and operations of the Seed Vault. There are no permanent staff persons on-site. Staff travel to Svalbard as necessary to monitor the facility and process new shipments when they arrive. Local officials also monitor the facility using electronic surveillance.

The construction cost for the Seed Vault was approximately 48 million Norwegian Kroner (NOK)\ $9 million (USD). The cost was funded entirely by the Kingdom of Norway.

The facility can be used free of charge by any genebank or seed conservation organization in any country.

The Seed Vault functions like a safety deposit box in a bank. The bank owns the building and the depositor owns the contents of his or her box.

Svalbard was considered an ideal physical location for a long-term seed storage facility requiring minimal operational costs. The arctic permafrost offers natural freezing for the seeds, a key requirement for long-term conservation. Additional mechanical cooling down to -18° Celsius, the international standard, is easily accomplished.

• The technical conditions at the site were virtually perfect. The location inside a mountain obviously increases security and provides unparalleled insulation properties. The area is geologically stable. Radiation levels inside the mountain are quite low. Humidity is relatively low. And it was possible to position the facility far above the point of any projected or possible sea level rise due to climate change (130 meters /430 ft above sea level).

• Svalbard is remote and yet accessible. Seeds can easily be transported to and retrieved from Svalbard, and the area has good communications links.

• Infrastructure is excellent. Locally mined coal provides power generation. Even if the equipment fails, a considerable time will elapse before the temperature rises to the −3 °C (27 °F) of the surrounding sandstone bedrock.

• The political situation is stable. The local government is highly competent and helpful. The local community also is small and supportive.

• There is experience in storing seeds and managing underground sites in Svalbard. The Nordic countries have been conserving a backup collection of their seeds in a coalmine in Svalbard since 1984.

• Norway is a trusted country. It also is unusually “global” in its outlook, and generous when it comes to supporting positive international initiatives. Norway has no perceived conflict of interest in hosting the site.

• Military activity is prohibited in the region under the terms of the Treaty of Svalbard (1920).

• And finally, those involved in the conceptualizing of the project had close ties with and access to policy-makers in Norway, facilitating consideration of the proposal at the highest levels of government.

The region on Svalbard surrounding the Seed Vault is remote, severe, and inhabited by polar bears. Anyone seeking access to the seeds themselves will have to pass through four locked doors: the heavy steel entrance doors, a second door approximately 115 meters down the tunnel and finally the two keyed air-locked doors. Keys are coded to allow access to different levels of the facility. Not all keys unlock all doors.

How many seeds are currently stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?

There are currently over 300,000 samples stored in the Seed Vault, totaling over 150 million seeds.

The Seed Vault has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed samples, more than the total number of varieties in existence. Each sample contains an average count of 500 seeds, so a maximum of 2.25 billion seeds could be stored in the facility. The collection and storage of seeds will continue for some time. When just half of the first of three storage rooms is filled, it will hold the world’s largest collection of seeds.

The seeds are stored at -18° Celsius (-0.4° Fahrenheit). The seeds are sealed in specially designed four-ply foil packages, placed in sealed boxes and stored on shelves inside the Seed Vault.

If properly stored and maintained at appropriate temperatures, some seeds in the Seed Vault will probably be viable for a millennium or more. As long- term seed conservation in genebanks began only in the last century, predicting seed longevity relies on statistical extrapolations. Such research shows that seed longevity varies considerably between species. If properly stored and maintained at appropriate temperatures, some seeds in the Seed Vault will be viable for a millennium or more.

For example at -20° Celsius, barley can potentially last 2000 years, wheat 1700 years, and sorghum almost 20,000 years. Even the most short-lived crop seeds typically survive for at least a half-century.

In any case, seed will be renewed regularly, and the Seed Vault will always have a good, healthy sample ready just in case it is needed.

The arctic permafrost offers natural freezing for the seeds, a key requirement for long term conservation. Additional mechanical cooling down to -18° Celsius, the international standard, is accomplished with only a single 10-kilowatt compressor, which is powered by locally generated electricity. If the equipment or the electricity fails, considerable time will elapse before the temperature would rise to the −3 °C (27 °F) of the surrounding sandstone bedrock, which is still satisfactory for keeping seeds frozen. Therefore there will be adequate time to have the equipment repaired before any damage is done to the seeds.

Even given worst-case scenarios for global warming, the Seed Vault storage rooms will remain naturally frozen for up to 200 years according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, and very cold and exceptionally well insulated for as far into the future as one can imagine. Under any scenario, therefore, the Vault remains, in absolute and relative terms, the best possible location for providing secure and reliable conditions for seed storage.

Will genetically modified (GM) plants and seeds be stored in Svalbard Global Seed Vault?

No GM seeds are stored in the Seed Vault.

The major threats and the principal causes of loss of diversity in genebanks have to do with management, infrastructure, and funding problems. They are not catastrophic or apocalyptic; they are not the stuff of newspaper headlines. But they are deadly nonetheless. Given the current state of many of the world’s genebanks, “doomsday” for seeds could be any day.

The world does not need to experience apocalypse in order for the Seed Vault to be useful and to repay its costs thousands of times over. The seed samples stored in the Seed Vault are copies of samples stored in the depositing genebanks. If the Seed Vault simply re-supplies genebanks with samples that those genebanks lose accidentally, it will pay for itself many times over in terms of the value of those samples to food security and sustainable agriculture.

The Seed Vault was built within one year. Most of the construction was completed in about 8 months. The architect is Peter W. Søderman at Barlindhaug Consult.

A genebank is a facility for maintaining crop diversity, typically in the form of seeds, usually stored and conserved in a frozen state. The ideal temperature is between -10 and -20° Celsius. Each different type of seed is stored in its own container, such as a bottle, can, or sealed aluminum foil package. Genebanks may also contain living plants and vegetative parts of plants, especially for crops that do not store well in the form of seeds.

Crop diversity is the biological base of agriculture. Agriculture depends on relatively few crops (only about 150 are cultivated on any significant scale worldwide); however, each comes in a vast range of different forms. They may vary, for example, in height, flower color, branching pattern, fruiting time, seed size, or flavor. They may also vary in less obvious ways such as their response to cold, heat, or drought; nutritional qualities; or their ability to tolerate specific pests and diseases. Farmers and scientists must continually draw on this irreplaceable resource to ensure productive harvests.

Crop varieties have different characteristics. Not all the differences are visible to the eye. Genetic traits may contain a wealth of differences in disease resistance,  adaptability to various soils and climates, different  tastes, and nutritional qualities. If we ever need these unique and often hidden traits found in particular crop varieties, then we must ensure that the variety is available. And it is impossible to know which traits may be useful in 10, 25, or 100 years from now.