A Safer Future: “Doomsday” Food Vault Gets Thousands of New Seeds

30,000 additional seed samples were just added to the world’s most extensive collection of agricultural biodiversity located in the Global Seed Vault in Norway, further boosting the safety box’s collection.

“Not too many think about crop diversity as being so fundamentally important, but it is. It is almost as important as water and air. Seeds generally are the basis for everything,” says Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust.

The storage container has been coined the “doomsday” vault, which could aid civilization in an apocalyptic event or global catastrophe. Its remote location in Svalbard, Norway – the farthest north one can fly on a commercial airline – ensures the vault is most likely protected in the event of war or terror, and the freezing conditions themselves ensure the long-term preservation of the seeds. It is, however, not the only of its kind – around 1,700 versions of the vault exist worldwide. Norway’s Global Seed Vault is considered a symbol of international cooperation for the good of humankind and continues to welcome seeds from any country or organization. The latest donation is notable in that it is one of the largest one-time additions since the vault opened in 2008 – increasing the number of samples inside the vault to over 1.3 million varieties.