Seed preservation is essential to ensure food security in the face of climate change, conflicts, and natural disasters. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault recently received over 14,000 seed samples from 21 genebanks worldwide, adding to its collection of over 1.3 million seed samples. This deposit includes contributions from countries like Sudan, the Philippines, Brazil, and Malawi, each facing unique challenges that threaten their agricultural diversity.
Hope in the Face of Conflict: Sudan’s Seed Deposit
Sudan, a country embroiled in civil war, deposited 15 seed samples at the vault, including various varieties of sorghum and pearl millet. This marks the sixth deposit by Sudan since 2019, with the ongoing conflict leading to the looting and destruction of the country’s seedbank. The director of Sudan’s Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre, Ali Babikar, highlights the significance of this deposit as a symbol of hope amidst adversity. Despite the challenges faced by the country, safeguarding these seeds in Svalbard ensures options for a resilient, food-secure future.
The Philippines, known for its susceptibility to extreme weather events, ranks as the top country globally at risk of natural disasters. In response to this threat and the increasing impact of climate change, the Philippines contributed vital seeds like eggplant, rice bean, lima bean, and sorghum to the seed vault. Hidelisa de Chavez, a researcher at the University of the Philippines, emphasizes the urgency of duplicating these collections in gene banks like Svalbard to protect them from environmental vulnerabilities.
Preserving Crop Diversity: Global Efforts
Brazil, set to host COP30, made a significant contribution of more than 3,000 types of beans, rice, and maize to the vault. This deposit underscores the country’s commitment to preserving agricultural diversity and ensuring food security. Additionally, Malawi’s deposit included Mucuna pruriens, also known as velvet beans, which serve as a nitrogen-fixing fertilizer and have medicinal properties. Nolipher Mponya, an agricultural research scientist from Malawi, emphasizes the importance of crop diversity in mitigating food crises and protecting the future of food security.
Other countries, including Benin, Burundi, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Nigeria, Zambia/Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Georgia, Kenya, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Thailand, and the UAE, also made valuable contributions to the seed vault. These diverse deposits reflect a global effort to safeguard crop diversity and maintain genetic resources for future generations.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, established in 2008, operates as a secure repository for seeds, ensuring backup collections for countries facing threats like climate change, conflicts, and disasters. With its 66th deposit in 2025, the vault continues to fulfill its mission of preserving biodiversity and safeguarding the knowledge, culture, and resilience of communities worldwide. Stefan Schmitz, the executive director of Crop Trust, emphasizes the importance of protecting crop diversity for the well-being of present and future generations.
In conclusion, the recent seed deposit at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault highlights the critical role of seed preservation in addressing global challenges related to agriculture, climate change, and food security. By collaborating on a global scale to protect crop diversity, countries are investing in a sustainable future for agriculture and ensuring the resilience of our food systems.
