The Svalbard Global Seed Vault - and a tale about food security

In April I was fortunate to have been invited on a scientific expedition to the Arctic waters off the coast of the Norwegian island of Svalbard. Having flown 1 ½ hours due North from Tromso, a city at the very northern end of mainland Norway, I emerged from the plane straight onto a frozen tarmac. It was mid-April and it was 15 below. The purpose of the visit was to work alongside researchers and gather valuable field data about Arctic sea ice. My attention was focused on work, but just outside the airport something caught my eye that made me stop and think about something else entirely. On the steep flanks of a windswept mountain, a solitary concrete wedge stood out prominently against the snow: the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Me loitering outside the concrete door-stop structure that marks the entrance to Svalbard Global Seed Vault

The structure is designed to make you stop and think. And as my Russian driver informed me on the ride from the airport, it's about all a visitor like me was permitted to do. Entry to this facility is prohibited for the general public. Which only served to heighten my interest in this mysterious concrete aberration. And so during my three-week stay in Svalbard I was inspired to learn as much as I could about it. This post tells the story of what I learned about the Svalbard Global Seed Bank.

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