As noted in the New York Times, and in
The Scotsman, the seed storage facility at Svalbard, in Norway, opened last week.
Quote:
DEEP inside a frozen Norwegian mountain, behind an entrance blown out of the rock and patrolled by polar bears, scientists have been stockpiling the world's insurance policy against a natural disaster.
With climate change pushing global temperatures beyond previous limits, it is impossible to predict how crops will fare across the globe, so a contingency plan is required.
For months, countries have been sending samples of their seeds to Norway, to be housed at -18C in a giant refrigerator referred to by the nation's media as the "Doomsday Vault".
Should a day come when the fields burn in the face of a nuclear explosion or drought, the vault will be plundered to rejuvenate the world's food supplies.
Quote:
"This is an insurance policy for the world's most valuable natural resource,"
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