Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Svalbard globale frøhvelv
Logo since 2018
Location within Svalbard
General information
StatusCompleted
TypeSeed bank
LocationSpitsbergen
Town or cityLongyearbyen
CountryNorway
Coordinates78°14′09″N 15°29′29″E / 78.23583°N 15.49139°E / 78.23583; 15.49139
Elevation130 m (430 ft)
Groundbreaking19 June 2006[1]
Opened26 February 2008[2]
Cost45 million kr[3]
(US$8.8 million, 2008)
OwnerNorway’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food [1]
Technical details
Floor count1
Floor areac. 1,000 m2
(c. 11,000 sq ft)[4]
Design and construction
Architect(s)Peter W. Søderman
Awards and prizesNorwegian Lighting Prize for 2009
No. 6 TIME's Best Inventions of 2008
Website
seedvault.no

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a secure backup facility for the world's crop diversity on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago.[5] The Seed Vault provides long-term storage for duplicates of seeds from around the world, conserved in gene banks. This provides security of the world's food supply against the loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease, and natural disasters. The Seed Vault is managed under terms spelled out in a tripartite agreement among the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust, and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen).[6][7]

The Norwegian government entirely funded the Seed Vault's approximately 45 million kr (US$8.8 million in 2008) construction cost.[3] Norway and the Crop Trust pay for operational costs. Storing seeds in the vault is free to depositors.

As of June 2025, the Seed Vault conserves 1,355,591 accessions,[8] representing more than 13,000 years of agricultural history.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc20060619 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mellgren2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference nature20080326 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference regj-desc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Charles2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference whatisnordgen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Svalbard Global Seed Vault". NordGen. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  8. ^ "Svalbard Global Seed Vault". seedvault.nordgen.org. Retrieved 10 June 2025.
  9. ^ Duggan, Jennifer (April 2017). "Inside the 'Doomsday' Vault". Time. Archived from the original on 8 April 2017.
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