The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture marked two historic milestones this week in the Arctic: new deposits at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and the first-ever deposit of official International Treaty materials in the Arctic World Archive (AWA). Together, these actions safeguard not only the seeds that feed the world, but also the knowledge, legal texts and lived stories that sustain their use.

Guatemala has taken a historic step in safeguarding its agricultural biodiversity by making its first deposit to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world’s most secure backup facility for crop diversity. The deposit includes more than 930 seed accessions of crops fundamental to national food systems, notably maize and beans, as well as squash, amaranth and teosinte.

The Eleventh Session of the Governing Body (GB-11) of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture concluded past midnight after a week of intense deliberations, marked by strong engagement from all delegations and resulting in the adoption of 16 resolutions to guide Treaty activities over the next biennium, and the unanimous nomination of Ms Estela Fernanda Millicay Resquin of Argentina as the Chair of the Twelfth Governing Body  Session (GB-12).