{"id":2744,"date":"2025-03-05T03:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T01:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/?p=2744"},"modified":"2025-03-03T01:25:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T23:25:23","slug":"arctic-doomsday-seed-vault-gets-more-than-14000-new-samples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/2025\/03\/05\/arctic-doomsday-seed-vault-gets-more-than-14000-new-samples\/","title":{"rendered":"Arctic doomsday seed vault gets more than 14,000 new samples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A &#8220;doomsday&#8221; vault storing food crop seeds from around the world in man-made caves on a remote Norwegian Arctic island will receive more than 14,000 new samples, a custodian of the facility said.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DFACCN3R6RMKHANEAM3L6HC6KA.avif\" alt=\"Representatives from many countries and universities arrive in the Svalbard's global seed vault with new seeds, in Longyearbyen, Norway February 25, 2020. NTB Scanpix\/Lise Aserud via REUTERS\/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights\" class=\"wp-image-2745\" srcset=\"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DFACCN3R6RMKHANEAM3L6HC6KA.avif 640w, https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/DFACCN3R6RMKHANEAM3L6HC6KA-300x200.avif 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Representatives from many countries and universities arrive in the Svalbard&#8217;s global seed vault with new seeds, in Longyearbyen, Norway February 25, 2020. NTB Scanpix\/Lise Aserud via REUTERS\/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set deep inside a mountain to withstand disasters from nuclear war to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/environment\/\">global warming<\/a>, was launched in 2008 as a backup for the world&#8217;s gene banks that store the genetic code for thousands of plant species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Protected by permafrost, the vault has received samples from across the world, and played a leading role between 2015 and 2019 in rebuilding seed collections damaged during the war in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The seeds deposited this week represent not just biodiversity, but also the knowledge, culture and resilience of the communities that steward them,&#8221; Executive Director Stefan Schmitz of the Crop Trust said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new contributions include a sample of 15 species from Sudan, consisting of several varieties of sorghum &#8211; a plant that is significant both for the country&#8217;s food security and its cultural heritage, the Crop Trust said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The war between the Rapid Support Forces and the army which broke out in April 2023 has killed tens of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/msf-suspends-activities-famine-stricken-camp-due-heavy-fighting-2025-02-24\/\">thousands of people<\/a> and displaced 12 million, while plunging half of Sudan into hunger and several locations into famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;In Sudan&#8230;these seeds represent hope,&#8221; the director of Sudan&#8217;s Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The total of 14,022 new samples will be deposited at 1430 GMT, including seeds of Nordic tree species from Sweden and rice from Thailand, the Crop Trust said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protected by permafrost, the vault has received samples from across the world, and played a leading role between 2015 and 2019 in rebuilding seed collections damaged during the war in Syria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2744"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2747,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2744\/revisions\/2747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}