The vault was created as a means to preserve human agriculture for an uncertain future. This research is part of the CGIAR Genebank Platform and the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas and is supported by CGIAR Fund Donors.In Norway, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is buried deep permafrost well within the Arctic Circle. View Ann Tutwiler's presentatio n: The Case for a Global Cryo-Collection The independent Expert Group investigated the state of crop cryopreservation in 26 institutes and collated information on field and in vitro collections around the world. *The report was commissioned by Bioversity International, the International Potato Center (CIP) and the Global Crop Diversity Trust with financial support from Australia, Germany and Switzerland to investigate the feasibility of establishing a safety back-up facility for cryopreserved collections of crops that are vegetatively propagated or have recalcitrant seeds. On the 10th anniversary of the Vault, it is time to commit ourselves to safeguarding – through cryopreservation – the 100,000 crop varieties that the experts say could easily be lost forever.ĭownload: Feasibility study for a safety back-up cryopreservation facility. Norway’s commitment to the Global Seed Vault is exemplary, and worth celebrating. To complete the conservation circle, we need to establish a task force to evaluate proposals to host the Cryo-Collection, seeking bids from interested parties, assessing possible locations and, seeking commitments from donors. The report recommends that “a safety back-up cryopreservation facility is set up” and that “the facility should follow the principles and policies that govern the Svalbard Global Seed Vault”. Also alongside a global back-up facility, a strong programme of capacity development and training needs to be built. Other recommendations include that the facility should be accessible as the collection would require constant monitoring of the equipment along with uninterruptible supplies of liquid nitrogen and electricity. But as the report also points out, efficient protocols for some important species are still missing. Bioversity International and KU Leuven have already developed necessary protocols for more than 30 crops. The report points out the need to develop cryopreservation protocols for additional crops. This makes it impossible to reproduce them.Īt Svalbard, I presented the results of an independent expert report.* The report concludes that “ a major global initiative is urgently needed to accelerate the development and implementation of crop cryopreservation”. These crops either don’t produce conventional seeds, like bananas, or because the seeds they do produce do not always resemble their parents, like potatoes and many other roots and tubers.
These include banana, cacao, cassava, coconut, coffee, potato and yams. What I saw, standing outside the Seed Vault, in the freezing wind and sleet, watching dozens of countries reverentially deposit their precious seeds was an affirmation of the trust and the forethought that the guardians of our food security had in creating the Seed Vault.īut, there are many crops that cannot be conserved by seeds. It is the permanent global fail-safe repository of more than one million seeds from the world’s crops including maize, rice, wheat, barley, and beans.
The Seed Vault is located deep inside a mountain under the permafrost on a remote island in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. Last weekend I was privileged to join the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. During the event, she presented on why the world also needs a global backup collection for crops that cannot be conserved by seed.
This week Ann Tutwiler, Director General, Bioversity International, was privileged to join the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
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