Since the beginning of humanity, one of the great concerns is when the end of this will come. It is ironic, but the human being has constantly thought about what will happen in the event of a catastrophe, generated by the gods, nature, another human being or space elements.
For this reason, there are initiatives such as the World Seed Bank, Also known as the chamber of the end of the world or “Noah’s ark of seeds”.
It is an underground chamber, in Norway, 1,300 kilometers from the North Pole, where a million varieties of 6,000 seed species are stored, from all climates and continents. Why the location? Because it is far from any conflict zone and the low temperatures help to preserve the content.
As the Spanish newspaper explains The country, the objective is to “ensure that human beings can continue to produce food in the event of a catastrophe.”
How does the World Seed Bank work in Norway?
The initiative is from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), although the Norwegian government owns the facility, located on the island of Swalbard. In accordance with Montserrat Román, from Cinco Noticias, the bank was inaugurated in 2008 with the first deposits of seeds.
At present there are from Africa, Asia, Europe and America, highlighting the seeds of rice, corn, wheat and potato.
Aslaug Marie Haga, IFAD Vice President and Executive Director of the vault, explained: “The deposited material is needed to investigate, for example, so that plants can adapt to the effects of climate change. Right now the pace is too fast and they can’t adapt.”
Only Norwegian government officials, other than those they designate, have access to the vault.
This is how seeds from the doomsday chamber were used
Has the protocol to use seeds from the chamber been activated? Yes. In 2015, Syrian scientists they asked for some to recover plant crops.
Due to the civil war that is raging in the country, the researchers went to Lebanon, requesting 130 boxes of seeds. The aim was to restart the collection they had at the International Research Center on Agriculture in Dry Areas, which they could not access due to the conflict.
With the samples from the Norwegian bank, the scientists they were able to continue their studies on crops in the Middle East.
It’s just one example of its usefulness that hopefully it won’t be needed in the future…meaning more wars and destruction.
