Svalbard Global Seed Vault –
a back-up seed bank for the
world’s crop genetic resources
Tore Skrøppa
Nordic Genetic Resource Centre –
NordGen
Vision
- A global security net
• Safeguard a
complete set of the
world’s most
important
accessions of plant
genetic resources
for food and
agriculture
• SGSV will provide
the securest possible
back-up site for a
rational, effective,
efficient and
sustainable global
system for
conserving crop
diversity and making
it available
Opening 26th of February 2008
Where?
Svalbard, Norway
74-81° North, 1035 ° East
Why Svalbard Global Seed Vault?
Good management to safely back-up
unique collections
Gene banks are vulnerable to
- Civil strife and war
- Natural disasters
- Lack of adequate funding
The time was ripe: The International Treaty
provides a framework for collaboration.
A part of the global system
In-situ
• Wild protected areas
• On-farm conservation
Ex-situ
 Gene banks (seeds and
cryo preservation)
 Field collections
International Policy Framework
• The Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD) 1993 and the International Treaty on
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture (ITPGRFA) 2004
• Same objectives: Conservation, sustainable
use and fair and equitable sharing of
benefits derived from their use
The Structure
 Storage halls embedded in solid rock
(120 m into the mountainside)
 130 m above sea (above worst case climate change
scenario)
 Geologically stable location
 Temperature maintained at -18°C
 Permafrost provides natural freeze guarantee at
-4 °C in the event of equipment failure
 Monitoring and surveillance with gas-, temperatureand motion- detectors
The Organization
• The Norwegian
government: the
liable national
authority
• NordGen:
responsibility for
the management
and operation
• The Global Crop
Diversity Trust:
Funding the
maintenance and
operation. Funding
shipment of seeds
from eligible
collections
• International Advisory
Council oversees the
operation of the Vault
NordGen
Operation
 PGR of importance to food security
and sustainable agriculture
 Accessions in two conventional
long-term gene banks elsewhere
 Build on in-trust collections (article
15 in ITPGRFA)
 Expansion: Unique genetic material
-avoiding duplication as far as
feasible
Terms
 Signing of Standard Deposit
Agreement
 Deposition consistent with
international law
Conditions
 Storage free of charge for public and
private holders of PGRFA
 Black box -will never be opened
 Viability testing - regeneration –
multiplication responsibility remains
with the depositor
 Information access on public online
data portal
 Withdrawal on request
Should seed lots of forest tree
species be stored at SGSV?
Purpose
 Back-up storage for research to monitor
long term changes in genetic diversity
 Conservation of threatened populations
- which species?
- conifers or broad-leaved?
- long term storage conditions?
View from the Svalbard Global Seed Vault
Thank you!
.seedvault.no
Seed Portal: www.nordgen.org/sgsv