Once the crops have sprouted seeds again, they'll send some back to Svalbard for safekeeping. During the re-growing process, researchers will be looking into ways to make crops more resistant to things like extreme heat, drought, cold, and pests so they're more capable of adapting to climate change, reported CNN. Right now, the crops can't be regrown in Syria while the war is ongoing, so they're being grown in Morocco and Lebanon instead. Losing crops like these could spell disaster for the future of food security. All it would take is a power outage and the cooling system for the seeds would be compromised. It also holds seeds for some of the oldest crops in the world, like ancient varieties of wheat and durum.Īccording to Wired, it wouldn't even take something a dramatic as a bombing for the seeds to be at risk. The gene bank in Aleppo holds seeds for lentils, chickpeas and the world's most valuable barley collection. RELATED: A Rare Look Inside The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault The seeds are safe, but the land around the gene bank can not be used, so they can't duplicate seeds, they can't share seeds with farmers and breeders and scientists," Haga told Seeker. Due to the war situation, the gene bank can not operate as it should. "One of the most important gene banks in the world is in Aleppo, Syria. Last year, Svalbard was put to the test when Aleppo, Syria needed to make an emergency withdrawal of seeds. The gene bank in the Philippines was struck by the tsunami, and then it caught fire," she said, adding that's "why it is important to have a backup system." "We have lost gene banks in Iraq, we have lost gene banks in Afghanistan. She told Seeker that she's already seen gene banks destroyed in several countries. Marie Haga is the executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the organization that manages Svalbard. RELATED: Svalbard's Role In The Syrian Civil War Gene banks all over the world preserve genetic material from crops and then give some of the seeds to Svalbard in case their own reserves are destroyed during natural disaster or war. The temperature is kept at a consistent -18 degrees Celsius (-0.4 Fahrenheit) to ensure the seeds will be preserved for thousands of years if necessary. The seed vault is set underground, 120 meters (394 feet) inside a mountain. Housed in the Norwegian-sovereign islands since 2008, halfway between Norway and the North Pole, Svalbard can hold up to 2.25 billion seeds from 4.5 million crop varieties.īasically, it's our insurance plan for the world's food supply. The Svalbard seed vault has been referred to as the "doomsday vault" for good reason.
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