Norwegian Archipelago Svalbard could save the world in case of disaster thanks to this building – life

Svalbard and the world's largest plant of plant seeds

Norwegian archipelago Svalbardwhich is located in the Arctic Ocean, is of great importance because there is the largest world bank of plant seeds. Although such banks exist around the world, this is the largest and most famous, writes Punkufer.hr.

Also, some of the other banks are in countries that are not completely safe (elemental disasters, wars), in 2008, is more precisely in this remote island group that would almost certainly remain intact and in the case of the Third World War.

The purpose is to preserve the seeds here, if for any reason, it is no longer available and disappears in some part of the world, so that Svalbard bank, computer-speaking, can be imagined as an external disk that we have set important backups. Although territorially belongs to the Kingdom of Norway, it should be said that the right to do so countries that give seeds and various institutions around the world.

Why Svalbard?

The simplest answer is – because it's cold. Namely, Svalbard is an archipelago found in the Arctic Ocean and belongs to Norway, and only a global seed warehouse is located on the island of Spicbergen, near the town of Longjerbijen. This location was chosen due to perfect climatic and geological conditions required for storage of seeds. Namely, the seed must be kept at a low temperature so that it would not be sprained, that is, to slow down their aging. In addition, the location is easily accessible and has a reliable power source nearby.

Since there is permafrost there, the temperature will never rise above 3.5 ° C, and the rock that surrounds the building itself is a stable enough to dig a building for a building, and at the same time it has a low level of radiation. If the level of the sea increases and the ice is dissolved, this building will still be safe because it is located 130 meters above sea level and is deep enough in the rock that it will not be compromised.

Primarily stores the seeds of various crops important for food production and sustainable agriculture. The seeds are stored at a temperature of -18 ° C, in closed packages, which are then placed in boxes that match the shelves. Low temperature and limited amount of oxygen are important for slowing down the metabolic seed activity and slowing down their aging.

New samples

This week, the seed bank has received more than 14,000 new samples, including the seeds of Nordic tree species from Sweden and rice from Thailand.

« Seeds stored this week is not only biological diversity, but also knowledge, culture and resilience of communities preserved, » Stefan Schmic, CROP TRUST CEO, International non-profit organizations based in Bonn.

The Arctic Semena bank has a capacity for 2.5 billion seeds, and concluded with May last year, it contains more than 1.3 million types of seeds from almost every country world.