Doomsday arctic seed vault design unveiled

[Nina]

Doomsday arctic seed vault design unveiled

By Pascal Boisson, 02/16/2007



The final architectural design for the Svalbard International Seed Vault that will house seed samples of nearly every country has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.

The seed vault will be built into a mountain near Longearbyen, the largest settlement in the Svalbard archipelago. The vault aims to protect agricultural heritage of humankind from catastrophes, such as nuclear wars, asteroid strikes and global warming.

The Norwegian government is paying $ 5 million for the project which will have enough space for three million seed samples. The collection and the maintenance of the facility will be organized by Global Crop Diversity Trust.

The construction will begin in March 2007. The seed bank is scheduled to open in late winter 2008.



The seed vault will be built 120 meters inside the permafrost, 130 meters above sea level. The samples will be stored at –18 degrees Celsius. "By building the vault deep inside the mountain, the surrounding permafrost would continue to provide natural refrigeration if the mechanical system failed", said Gary Fowler, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

This Arctic seed vault will act as safeguard bank for the global network of seed banks financially supported by Global Crop Diversity Trust.

Spitsbergen was considered an ideal location due to its lack of tectonic activity and its longtime permafrost, which will help to preserve seeds.

Source : BBC News