“At a first glance, seeds may not look like much, but within them lies the foundation of our future food and nutrition security, and the possibility for a world without hunger.”

– Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust (Crop Trust)

Protecting the World’s Food Supply

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault – commonly known as the ‘Doomsday Vault’ – lays buried beneath the permafrost, 150 metres into a mountainside within the Arctic Circle. It is located on Spitsbergen Island, in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago; chosen for its remoteness, the gene bank acts as a backup collection for the world’s crop diversity.

The Doomsday Vault provides a safeguard against natural and human-induced disasters that may threaten other seed banks and impact food security, such as disease, climate change, biodiversity loss, and war. Further, alternate gene banks located worldwide are threatened by erratic power supplies, lack of funding, and poor management. In contrast, the Svalbard Vault is situated above sea level, with permafrost and dense rock keeping the seeds frozen at -18ºC, without the need for electricity. 

The vault contains the world’s largest collection of agricultural biodiversity, with over 1.1 million seed samples, representing 5,500 plant species. It holds a wealth of diversity, containing over 10,000 years of agricultural history, with seeds originating from almost every country in the world.

Industrial Agriculture: Monoculture and Biodiversity Loss

Within the past half-century, industrial agriculture has drastically changed farming practices, with new technology aiding large-scale crop production. Another change is the commodification of seeds by private companies which has standardized and created homogeneous crop varieties. These plants have been bred to withstand pesticides and herbicides, such as the controversial chemical glyphosate, a potential carcinogen (cancer-causing substance). In addition to public health concerns, the over-saturation of chemicals has decimated beneficial insect populations, such as pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Companies produce hybrid varieties which only grow a single generation of crops, meaning farmers can no longer save seeds each season and instead must purchase new seeds each year. This promotes uniform crops and monoculture, which has the capacity to produce higher yields; however, it has driven biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Now, crops have grown to become more susceptible to drought, pests, and disease.

Decreased diversity has led the world’s food supply to become overly dependent on four major food crops: corn, rice, soy, and wheat. According to the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), these crops supply around 60% of the calories consumed daily by the world’s population. In the United States alone, over 90% of fruit and vegetable varieties have been lost since the 1900s. This is compounded by just four companies owning 60% of the world’s seed market.

Crop Diversity Matters – The Importance of Seed Saving

Svalbard aims to conserve crop diversity by protecting the world’s food supply, and plays an active role in helping achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG), which is ‘Zero Hunger, Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture.’

Crop diversity ensures food security and protects nutritional food sources which in turn helps alleviate poverty. Diversity also promotes sustainable agriculture, mitigates environmental degradation, and ensures crops are resilient and adaptable to climate change and disease. Gene banks provide genetic diversity to develop new and locally adapted crop varieties able to withstand heat, drought, floods, and disease. Developing enhanced crops also improves nutrition and produces a more varied food supply. This ensures populations in developing countries have equitable access to more affordable and healthier food, ultimately reducing hunger and malnutrition.

Challenges: The Climate Crisis and the Arctic Circle

The vault was designed to protect the world’s food supply against a climate crisis; it is now being confronted by that very threat. In 2020, an Arctic heatwave produced record highs in Svalbard, where the temperature topped 21.7℃. This is well above the summer average of 5-7℃. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe – the rising temperatures, melting sea ice, and thawing permafrost are placing the vault’s future in jeopardy.

To prevent flooding from melting permafrost and extreme weather events, the vault underwent multi-million dollar upgrades. Unfortunately, most gene banks worldwide lack the resources and funding to adequately store and protect their seeds. The Crop Trust is helping raise funds to support gene banks to ensure global biodiversity.

Challenges: Syrian Civil War and Shifting Seeds to Svalbard

Worldwide there are more than 1,700 gene banks containing crop varieties, but many are highly vulnerable, such as Aleppo’s gene bank in Syria, which was threatened by war and forced to close in 2012. The International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) in Aleppo, contained one of the world’s most significant seed collections and the largest collection of crop diversity from the Fertile Crescent, the “birthplace” of early agriculture. After the facility’s closure, over 80% of its collection was backed up at Svalbard.

Countries and organizations have the opportunity to deposit seeds for storage several times a year when the Svalbard vault is opened. Since the vault’s establishment in 2008, only three withdrawals have occurred. For example, in 2015, in response to the Syrian conflict, a new ICARDA seed bank was re-established in Lebanon and Morocco using seeds from the Svalbard vault. ICARDA has since cultivated and collected seeds from the offspring and returned the seeds to the vault.

Power Relations – Who Owns the Vault?

Politics and International Cooperation

The Svalbard vault is a global effort that requires international cooperation and political neutrality. The Government of Norway (Norway’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food) owns and funded the construction of the vault, and continues to operate in partnership with the Crop Trust. Any country or organization, including other seed banks, Indigenous groups, and local communities, can deposit seeds, regardless of politics, there are no restrictions. Despite geopolitical tensions and conflict, seeds from North Korea are stored alongside seeds from the United States. Similarly, boxes of seeds from Ukraine and Russia are also stored together. The depositor retains ownership rights over the seeds, and they are free to withdraw and access their seeds in accordance with international laws and treaties.

Indigenous Groups: Cherokee Nation

In 2020, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma became the first Native American tribe to deposit traditional heirloom seeds, which predate European colonization. The deposited seeds included white eagle corn, candy roaster squash, and Cherokee Trail of Tears beans. The Cherokee Nation are the second Indigenous group to secure seeds in the vault, following Andean potato seeds that were deposited in 2015. This is important for preserving traditional knowledge, while also securing culturally significant seeds for future generations.

Solutions: Food Sovereignty and Traditional Cultivation

Gene banks like Svalbard play a significant role in conserving crop diversity. However, conservation should not become overly reliant on gene banks – they should be treated as supplementary. A long-term solution must prioritize the protection and enhancement of natural habitats and agroecosystems to ensure plants and crops can be sustained.

To enable food sovereignty, there ought to be more scope for peasant, Indigenous, and farmer-led solutions, all of which take into consideration local contexts and needs. Community-run seed banks, “on-farm” conservation and farmer-led programmes aim to support farmers cultivating local varieties. Farmers have the right to seed sovereignty which incorporates the right to save, cultivate, exchange, and sell their own seeds.

Local communities are defending food and land sovereignty by protecting and restoring diverse traditional crop varieties. There is a growing movement across North America among BIPOC communities aiming to save heirloom seeds, hoping to preserve historic knowledge and culture through traditional crops. Traditional cultivation and organic farming must be practiced as an alternative to industrial agriculture. Indigenous people offer diverse agrarian methods, such as terracing, which is more sustainable, reduces water use and fertilizers, and helps improve soil health and prevent erosion.

The transformation of the food system requires a shift from the current industrial model to one that is regenerative, enhances ecological processes, prioritizes human health and nutrition, upholds social justice, and strengthens rural communities.