SVALBARD GLOBAL SEED VAULT
Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a backup facility for the world’s crop diversity. By putting seed duplicates for long-term and safe storage in Svalbard, genebanks reduce the risk of losing invaluable genetic material if anything should happen to their original collections. NordGen is responsible for operating the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in cooperation with the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the international organization Global Crop Diversity Trust. NordGen’s role in the Seed Vault partnership is to communicate with genebanks, handle seed deposits and update the Seed Portal – a publicly accessible database gathering information about the seeds stored in the Seed Vault.
Seed Vault openings: 3 (February, May and October) | Depositing institutions in total (31/12 2024): 123 | Number of seed samples in the Vault (31/12 2023): 1,331,458 |
New seed samples duplicates: 64,331 | New institutions signing the deposit agreement: 21 | Number of depositing institutions during 2024: 54 |
Seed boxes and NordGen staff during the October deposit, 2024.
Key activities
New depositors
21 genebanks deposited seeds for the first time in 2024.1 Eighteen of these were supported by the BOLD-project, funded by the Government of Norway and led by the Crop Trust.
More than 64,000 safety duplicates
In total 64,331 safety duplicates from 54 depositors were added to the Seed Vault collection in 2024. By the end of the year, the total holding of seed accessions in the Seed Vault was 1.331.458 samples deposited by 123 genebanks/institutes. In total, 210 seed boxes were taken into the Seed Vault by NordGen's staff in 2024.
100-year seed experiment
New samples of test seeds belonging to the 100-year seed germination experiment in the Seed Vault were deployed in 2024 and the last samples needed for the finalizing the establishment of the experiment were delivered by ICRISAT during the October deposit.
Nanofilm securing information
By the end of 2024, all boxes deposited between 2008 and 2021 has been equipped with nanofilm labels displaying data on conserved seed samples. Film stripes/labels to 470 boxes deposited in 2022 and 2023 have been printed and attaching them to the boxes will be done during 2024.
1New Depositors in 2024:
1. Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture and Plant Growing, Kazakhstan
2. Union Of Agricultural Work Committees, Palestine
3. Seed Savers Network Association, Kenya
4. Biodiversity Education and Resource Centre, Nigeria
5. The National Center for Applied Research on Rural Development , Madagascar
6. University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciencies, Bosnia & Herzegovina
7. University of Cape Coast, Ghana
8. Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria
9. Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research, Burkina Faso
10. Ecogerm Farmers, Cameroon
11. Borneo Institute, Indonesia
12. Agrobiotechnology Scientific Center, Armenian National Agrarian University Foundation, Armenia
13. Laboratory of Genetics, Biotechnology and Seed Sciences, Benin
14. Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Benin, Benin
15. Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, Malaysia
16. Instituto de Agroecologia y Seguridad Alimentaria, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Bolivia
17. Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, Bangladesh
18. National Agricultural Research Institute, Papua New Guinea
19. Institut Tchadien de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, Chad
20. National Horticultural Research Institute, Nigeria
21. Anne van Dijk Rice Research Centre Nickerie, Suriname
Left photos: detail from the Palestinian seed box and other boxes being scanned for the deposit in October, 2024.
The Seed Vault was established in 2008 and is owned by Norway. NordGen is responsible for managing the Seed Vault in partnership with the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the international organization Crop Trust. The iconic building, safeguards security copies of seeds stored in genebanks and thereby contributes to securing the world’s food supply.
The location of the Seed Vault was chosen due to Svalbard being a remote, cold and safe place, yet easily accessible for shipping and handling. In addition, the Nordic Genebank (now NordGen) stored a backup of the Nordic seed collection here already from 1984, something that inspired to the establishment of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The seed chambers of the Seed Vault are carved out from the solid rock of the Plateau mountain. They offer a frozen environment where artificial cooling keeps the temperature at a constant –18°C and according to FAO’s genebank standards. The ownership of the seeds stored in the Seed Vault remains with the depositing genebank, and only the institution that deposited the seeds are allowed to withdraw them.