Plugging the gaps in the leaky Doomsday Vault
It has been 10 years since the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was built at the very north of the world to store seeds of the world’s most important crops
Oslo — On this winter day, the world was upside down: it was raining in the Arctic Circle and snowing in Rome. The contradiction was not lost on those gathered at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located near the top of the world. The scientists, activists, executives and government officials were in Longyearbyen, to mark the 10-year anniversary of what has become known as the Doomsday Vault, which stores seeds of the world’s most important crops deep in a mountain against the apocalyptic consequences of climate change and war. The challenge they’re facing now is that the climate is changing far quicker than they’d imagined. The facility sprung a leak in 2017 after construction had failed to take into account that the permafrost could melt. Norway is now spending about $20m to secure and improve the facility. But it’s not just the building. "Biodiversity is the building block to develop new plants and because of climate change we’re in a terrible need to quickly develop new varieties...
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