The Svalbard Global Seed Vault welcomed over 21,000 new seed samples from 20 genebanks worldwide, including first-time deposits from the Philippines and Peru. This 68th deposit brings the total collection to 1.38 million samples, reinforcing global efforts to safeguard crop diversity against climate change and crises.

Major contributors included the Philippine Rice Research Institute, sending 4,000 rice varieties; the World Vegetable Center, with 3,000 samples of traditional African crops; and genebanks from Morocco and Ecuador, supported by the Crop Trust’s BOLD project. Other participants ranged from Australia to Switzerland and Ethiopia, contributing forages, aromatic plants, and wild crop relatives.

Leaders from the Crop Trust, NordGen, and Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food praised the milestone but stressed the urgent need for stronger global investment in genebanks to ensure lasting food security.

Read full original article “Celebration Meets Urgency at Latest Seed Vault Opening in Svalbard” at Crop Trust