Extinction-climate crisis news is bad, but hope is not lost. Let’s celebrate 1 big environmental win: GLOBAL SEED VAULT also dubbed the “doomsday vault”!

WHAT IS “GLOBAL SEED VAULT”?
💫 Svalbard Global Seed Vault, in world’s northernmost town Longyearbyen, on Norwegian island Spitsbergen in Arctic Svalbard archipelago.
🔐 International security facility for Earth’s crop diversity.
🌱 Stores duplicates (“backups”) of seeds saved in 1700+ genebanks around the world. Like a bank safety deposit box, so depositing genebanks own seeds they store and are only ones who can withdraw them (“black box conditions”).
🇳🇴 Owned by Norway and managed under partnership agreement between Norwegian government, Global Crop Diversity Trust, and regional genebank Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).
🌾 Opened 2008, has storage capacity of 4.5 million crop varieties and 2.5 billion seeds, holds over 1 million seed varieties from almost every country, and stores almost 6,000 plant species, of which many no longer grow in nature.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
🫠 Crop diversity is disappearing at an alarming rate and once a crop variety is lost, it is gone forever. Food production focuses on globalized diet, with only 4 crops – soybeans, wheat, rice, and corn – taking almost ½ of all agricultural lands. Individual crops also lack genetic diversity (e.g., 6 genotypes comprise over 50% of corn crops in North America).
🧬 Vault protects Earth’s food crop supply against loss of seeds in genebanks, which happens somewhat regularly due mismanagement, accident, equipment failure, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease, and natural disasters.
🍽️ Crop diversity is vital for future food and nutrition security, as recognized in United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
👍 Conserving crop diversity can help solve the linked challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
🚜 Learn how agriculture is impacted by, and adapting to, climate change in your own country.
🛍️ Be a conscious consumer and eat a sustainable diet.