![]() ![]() The vault sits just outside Longyearbyen, up the hill from the world’s northernmost commercial airport. Still, since it was built in 2008, the vault has acted as something of an insurance policy for Earth’s biodiversity, a role of increasing importance in a world ravaged by political instability, war and the urgent threat of climate change.Īt 78 degrees N, about 1,000 kilometres away from the North Pole, you’d be hard pressed to find a more remote (yet still accessible) place to safeguard the world’s seeds. “It’s just seed storage inside the mountain,” says Åsmund Asdal, the vault’s co-ordinator and only full-time employee. But at its core, the vault’s mission is quite simple. The concrete structure jutting out of the hillside is built to withstand the most severe natural disasters, and even a nuclear bomb, according to its manufacturer. But deep within its permafrost - layers of soil, gravel and sand, frozen in place - lay the keys to securing the world’s food supply, in the form of more than one million types of seeds.ĭubbed the “doomsday vault,” the Global Seed Vault has a certain sci-fi quality to it. In the icy tundra of Longyearbyen, the world’s northernmost town, few crops grow. ![]() Here on Norway’s wild and vast Svalbard archipelago, polar bears outnumber people - and you can never be too careful (though of course, killing one is strictly a last resort). LONGYEARBYEN, Norway-You’ll need to carry a rifle if you wish to visit the world’s biggest collection of agricultural diversity.
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