#DOOMSDAY VAULT GETS MASSIVE UPGRADE UPGRADE#
The upgrade has prompted the introduction of 60,000 new samples into the vault, bringing the total of crop varieties to around 1.05 million – about two-fifths of the total number in the world.Īs Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Crop Trust, explains, this “demonstrates a growing global commitment – from the institutions and countries that have made deposits today and indeed the world – to the conservation and use of the crop diversity that is crucial for farmers in their efforts to adapt to changing growing conditions”. “In 20, 30, 40 years down the line, we will continue to monitor the situation to see whether any other upgrades are necessary.” “It is always dangerous to talk about something being completely failsafe and impregnable,” said Hannes Dempewolf, a scientist at Crop Trust. The Guardian reports that a major upgrade this winter has seen the 130-metre entrance tunnel “fully waterproofed and the cooling equipment that keeps the vault at -18C moved to a new service building, so heat from the machinery can be released outside”. Svalbard Working in groups, ildren use information sources to explore why. But the incident has “ raised questions over the durability of a seed bank that was supposed to operate without people’s intervention”. Seed Vault is commonly referred to as the Doomsday Vault. In spring 2017, unusually warm temperatures in Svalbard caused heavy rainfall and significant permafrost melt, causing a deluge of water which breached the entrance to the vault and flooded it.Īccording to The Verge, the water didn’t make it to the seeds, instead freezing in the entrance way before any damage could be done to the samples. The vault is around three miles from the island’s largest town, Longyearbyen, and just 600 miles from the North Pole.Įncyclopaedia Britannica says that the site was chosen for its “cold conditions and permafrost, which would help preserve the seeds in the event the vault’s cooling systems failed”.Ĭompleted in 2008, the SGSV was built by the Norwegian government in collaboration with the Crop Trust, and reportedly has the capacity to hold around 4.5 million varieties of seeds, with individual countries providing the seed samples to be preserved.ĭespite being built to withstand a changing global landscape, three years ago it appeared that climate change had accelerated to a point at which the vault failed to keep up. It is situated on the island of Spitsbergen, part of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago one of the most northerly inhabited places on Earth. The stated intention of the vault, which now contains over 1 million samples, is to safeguard the seeds of the world’s food plants in the event of a global crisis. The SGSV is, according to the Crop Trust, a “long-term seed storage facility, built to stand the test of time - and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters”. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine.
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