The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a massive seed storage facility that has been built into the side of a mountain on the Svalbard Archipelago, 300 miles north of mainland Norway. The vault is being cooled to 0 degrees Fahrenheit for the long-term storage of food-crop seeds and has a capacity of up to 4.5 million seed samples and will eventually be home to practically every variety of almost every important food crop in the world, making it, when in full use, the world’s largest collection of seeds.

The purpose is a hedge against disaster so that food production can resume if seed resources become otherwise depleted. According to the project web site, seed banks face a wide variety of threats, like the national seed bank of the Philippines that was recently wiped out by a typhoon and Iraqi and Afghan seed banks that have been destroyed by war. Lack of resources and funding continues to be the biggest threat to seed banks today, however. The site in Norway was selected for its ability to keep seeds cool and viable for a long period of time. Permafrost conditions there ensure that the vault’s sandstone walls never rise above about 25 degrees. Additionally, an ultra-efficient refrigeration system maintains the temperature in the vault at around 0 degrees. Under these conditions, some seeds which are most fit for storage, like grains, could be stored for up to 1,000 years.

The vault is located at an altitude and depth in the mountain such that neither a potential rise in sea level nor melting of the permafrost are considered potential threats in the foreseeable future The Svalbard vault is intended as a final backup for all other seed banks. While Norway has constructed and will own the vault, countries and organizations sending seeds will own the material they deposit, functioning ultimately like a bank safe deposit box. It opens officially on February 26, 2008. Seed Savers Exchange is among the opening-day depositors, making an initial deposit of seeds from 485 different vegetable varieties. With planned annual deposits of 2,000 vegetable varieties over the next several years, its deposits will eventually be among the largest at the Svalbard vault.

The Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization founded in 1975 and located in Decorah, Iowa. Seed Savers is committed to the distribution and preservation of heirloom vegetable varieties. Seed Savers has a membership of 7,000 gardeners who maintain and distribute thousands of heirloom vegetable varieties. Seed Savers also maintains a seed collection of over 25,000 varieties of rare and unique vegetables.