'Doomsday Vault' Gains 50,000 Seeds to Fend Off Food Crises

[Judi Lynn]

By Kacey Deamer, Staff Writer | February 24, 2017 04:03pm ET





The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located underground on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, is the world's largest security storage for seeds.
Credit: Heiko Junge/NTB scanpix/Zuma


A so-called "doomsday" seed vault on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean has received a major new deposit of 50,000 seeds as part of an ongoing effort to defend the planet against global food crises, according to news reports.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, built underground about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the North Pole, is a frozen-storage facility that houses the world's most important crop seeds. The vault was built in 2008 as a backup for gene banks around the world and to keep the valuable genetic material protected from natural disasters, equipment malfunctions, war and other problems. Thus, the moniker "doomsday vault." [In Photos: Take a Tour of the World's 'Doomsday' Seed Vault]

This week, the vault gained 50,000 new seed samples from collections around the world, reported the Associated Press.

The new deposit included samples from gene banks in Benin, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Netherlands, the U.S., Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus and Britain, according to the AP.

More:
http://www.livescience.com/58015-doomsday-seed-vault-receives-new-deposit.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. In Photos: Take a Tour of the World's 'Doomsday' Seed Vault

In Photos: Take a Tour of the World's 'Doomsday' Seed Vault
By Denise Chow, Assistant Managing Editor | February 24, 2017 03:58pm ET


http://www.livescience.com/58016-svalbard-doomsday-seed-vault-photos.html

[longship]

2. Here is more about the amazing Svalbard Seed Vault in one graphic.

[longship]

3. Oh, and a hearty R&K.