NordGen has a special responsibility for conserving and documenting genetic variation of Nordic material to ensure biodiversity and sustainable use of genetic resources. As early as 1979, the Nordic countries decided that a joint Nordic genebank for plants should conserve and facilitate the utilization of national plant genetic resources.
In the 2004 Kalmar Declaration, the Nordic countries have adopted the basis for how NordGen should manage access and rights to genetic resources. All accessions in the genebank, except for collections held by NordGen for other genebanks, are under joint Nordic management and are a common good.
The genebank's seed collection should contribute to more resilience and new solutions to avoid biodiversity loss and contribute to increased use of genetic resources to achieve sustainable climate solutions, robust food and feed supply including new protein sources, better health and sustainable ecosystem services. At the same time, efforts will be made to improve documentation by characterizing and evaluating the seed collection, so that more data becomes available to the Nordic community.
NordGen manages the program Nordic Public Private Partnership for Pre-breeding (PPP), which aims to support the development of Nordic plant pre-breeding.
NordGen has the operational responsibility for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in a partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.