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, 10-35 ° 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 systemIn-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-, temperature- and 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

Seed Portal: www.nordgen.org/sgsv

www.seedvault.no

Thank you!