Save the Seeds: 60,000 Emergency Crops Added to Arctic Vault

A “doomsday” vault in the Arctic preserving plants that could feed a growing population threatened by climate impacts has received 60,000 new seed samples from international donors – including Britain’s Prince Charles and a Native American group.

“As the pace of climate change and biodiversity loss increases, there is new urgency surrounding efforts to save food crops at risk of extinction,” says Stefan Schmitz, head of the Crop Trust and manager of the reserve located in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. “The large scope of today’s seed deposit reflects worldwide concern about the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss on food production.”

The Cherokee Nation, the first Native American group to send crops to the vault, sent over their sacred White Eagle corn, as well as beans and squash, while Prince Charles sent 27 wild plants from his country home of Highgrove. The vault has previously helped Syria in 2015 when researchers retrieved copies of grains lost in Aleppo’s destruction.