“Since 2008, the Svalbard seed vault and its guardians have been entrusted by the world’s governments with the safekeeping of the most prized varieties of crops on which human civilisation was raised.
“That morning, it contained the seeds of nearly 4,000 plant species – more than 720,000 individual plastic-sheathed samples.
“The site was built to be disaster-proof: 130 metres up the mountain in case of sea-level rise, earthquake resistant, and with a natural insulation of permafrost to ensure the contents were kept frozen for decades to come.
“About 60% of Svalbard is glacial. There exist no signs that it was settled by humans before whalers and hunters built small communities along the coast, and coal was found.
“Nothing grows there apart from wildflowers and grass.”
Read more at The Guardian
