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In the Netherlands the Dutch phrase for global warming is de Opwarming van de Aarde.
 
Globalt sikkerhetshvelv for frø på Svalbard also known as Norwegian Seed Bank and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is found on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote arctic Svalbard archipelago. Starting from the year 2007 it is to store the seeds of as many useful plants as possible. The costs amount to approximately 6 million euros.
 
             Beyond 350    
 
 
       Globalt sikkerhetshvelv for frø
 
 
 

Dette er Krossfjorden på Svalbard - frølageret blir i en nedlagt gruve (This is Krossfjord on Svalbard - frølageret is in a closed mine )
Foto: L.Johannessen/UNIS    Frølageret
 
 
Doomsday Vault sectional perspective

Security consists of:
Looming fences
Motion detectors
Steel airlock doors and
the overwhelming population of polar bears
 
 

The (End of the) World Seed Vault Opens

By Alexis Madrigal EmailFebruary 29, 2008Categories: Food and Drink    
 
 
"Doomsday Seed Vault" in the Arctic
Bill Gates, Rockefeller and the GMO giants know something we don’t
 
African Path 
 
Why now Svalbard?

We can legitimately ask why Bill Gates and the Rockefeller Foundation along with the major genetic engineering agribusiness giants such as DuPont and Syngenta, along with CGIAR are building the Doomsday Seed Vault in the Arctic.
 
Now is it simply philosophical sloppiness? What leads the Gates and Rockefeller foundations to at one and the same time to back proliferation of patented and soon-to-be Terminator patented seeds across Africa, a process which, as it has in every other place on earth, destroys the plant
seed varieties as monoculture industrialized agribusiness is introduced? At the same time they invest tens of millions of dollars to preserve every seed variety known in a bomb-proof doomsday vault near the remote Arctic Circle ‘so that crop diversity can be conserved for the future’ to restate their official release?
 
 
These foods nourished our people for a very long time. These our Our foods from Our Seeds.
 
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Seeds of the world to be conserved on Svalbard

The Norwegian government will build a global vault for seeds on Svalbard. Seeds from the entire world will be put into frozen storage in the vault so that crop diversity can be conserved for the future, and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg marked the start of the building process on 19 June.

"The plans for the seed vault in the permafrost on Svalbard have drawn international attention, both among scientists and the media. We are all interested in conserving biological diversity in agriculture, particularly crops that are of importance to the food supply. I think many countries will use the vault to improve their preparedness against plant diseases and other threats, " said Norwegian Minister of Agriculture and Food Terje Riis-Johansen.

Modern agriculture and food production require uniform crop plants and the same varieties are planted over increasingly larger spaces. Much of the diversity can therefore no longer be found in the fields. A seed vault can help preserve the diversity that is lost in the wild.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault will lie inside the mountain close to Longyearbyen and will house up to three million different types of seeds. The planning started in the autumn of 2005 and will continue throughout 2006. In early 2007, the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property will commence construction and the preparations for the start-up of operations, with a goal of opening the facility in September 2007.

Treaty for exchange of seeds
The idea for a seed vault dates back to as early as the 1980s, but only in 2001 did the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) adopt the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. With this agreement in place, the thought of a seed bank on Svalbard resurfaced.

The FAO Commission for Genetic Resources and other international actors have expressed great support for the Norwegian initiative. The physical storage facility will remain in Norwegian hands, but the seeds will not be Norwegian property. They will be returned in case the original samples of the seed are lost. There are plans to establish an international council that will represent user interests and follow operations.

Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture/ Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

Seeds from all over the world will be stored at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The Nordic prime ministers all donated seeds particular to their country on 16 June.Photo: Dag Terje Endresen/ www.norden.org

Modern agriculture require uniform crop plants, which threatens seed diversity. The new seed vault on Svalbard can preserve the diversity that would otherwise be lost.Photo: Pål Bugge/ Innovation Norway