Audio
Svalbard Global Seed Vault opens door on 26 February, 2008
FAO's Director-General, Jacques Diouf, addressed a conference in Svalbard held in connection with the inauguration of the Seed Vault. ?The wealth that is being safeguarded in Svalbard will be the global insurance to address future challenges,? he added. Already, more than 160 countries are confident that their crop varieties will be safe for life in Svalbard, Norway. The Norway funded-contruction of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault took less than a year and will open doors on 26 February 2008.
The Nordic gene bank will be responsible for daily operation and administration of the seed vault. The Global Crop Diversity Trust will contribute technical guidance and the despatch of seed to Svalbard and has also committed itself to financing a major part of the operating costs. With duplicates of seed collections from more than 1,400 gene banks safeguarded on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, the vault will be able to rescue gene banks in case of crop genetic loss caused by war, pollution or climate change. A giant step for world food security, says Cary Fowler:
Produced by:
L. Kambirigi
Reference:
9098
