Virtual tour: Arctic bunker to save humanity in the event of a disaster

Watch the video: A virtual tour of the gigantic seed bunker in the Arctic.

In the middle of the Arctic lies the entrance to a bunker that could one day save humanity. Located in Svalbard, an archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole, is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a seed vault containing seeds from around the world.

Now people all over the world can visit this unique and hidden place on a virtual tour. It is the largest seed bank in the world and is managed by the Norwegian government, the Nordic countries gene bank NordGen and the World Crop Diversity Trust, CropTrust.

The safe is located in an old coal mine and extends 120 meters into the mountain, in the middle of the permafrost. A cooling system ensures that a constant icy temperature of -18 degrees Celsius prevails here. 1.2 million seed samples from all over the world are currently stored here – 2.5 billion can be stored in total. In case of a natural disaster, a nuclear strike or any other catastrophe, they should be preserved as a kind of reserve for mankind. The minimum number of seeds for the foods that are important for nutrition, such as rice, corn, potatoes, vegetables, nuts and fruit, also serves this purpose.

Aging seeds are regularly replaced – new ones are added as well. The rooms are designed to be flood-proof – the storage shelves are additionally secured by waterproof protective walls. That was not always so. In 2016, the warmest year since records began, according to NASA, flood water entered the bunker. Although no seeds were destroyed at that time, the plant was then protected against new floods. In this way, the seeds should also be preserved for posterity in the future.

Source: Global Seed Vault

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