Doomsday Vault Opens In Norway
4 de março de 2008 A vast underground vault storing millions of seeds from around the world –called the “Doomsday Vault” — is scheduled to open this week near Longyearbyen, Norway. The seed bank is built deep inside a mountain in the remote Svalbard islands near the Arctic Ocean, ensuring safe storage of the seeds no matter what happens outside. Construction began last year, with the Norwegian government spending US $9.4 million to build the vault. It is scheduled to open Feb. 26.
Located between Norway and the North Pole, the seed bank is intended to be the “ultimate safety net” for the world’s seeds; they are to be protected from natural and man-made threats such as war, natural disasters, lack of funding, and poor agricultural management. A refrigeration system — in addition to the area’s natural permafrost and the rock of the mountain — will keep the vault at least -4 C (25 F).
Officially known as the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the bank can hold up to 4.5 million seed samples. Fundo Global para a Diversidade de Cultivos, founded by the Nações Unidas in 2004 to support the long-term conservation of crop diversity, and is funded by countries and foundations, is paying to collect and maintain the seeds. The trust says the vault will eventually house almost every variety of the world’s most important food crops.
“The seed vault is the perfect place for keeping seeds safe for centuries,” said Cary Fowler, the trust’s executive director. “At these temperatures, seeds for important crops like wheat, barley and peas can last for up to 10,000 years.”
Magnus Bredeli Tveiten, project manager for the Norwegian government, added: “We believe the design of the facility will ensure that the seeds will stay well-preserved even if such forces as global warming raise temperatures outside the facility.”
The vault at Svalbard stores only the seeds of crops; in Sussex, England, the similar Millennium Seed Bank is part of a scientific project that works with wild plants.
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