The Svalbard Global Seed Vault officially opened on Tuesday on the island of Svalbard in Norway. The vault is meant to shield the world's seeds from climate change, earthquakes, war and other disasters and has room for 4.5 million varieties of agricultural, horticultural and medicinal plants. "What we've done is establish essentially a physical insurance policy here in Svalbard so we can ensure the safety of these seeds," said Cary Fowler the executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. It's designed to withstand earthquakes and even a direct nuclear strike and is intended to last hundreds and even thousands of years according to this CBC article. Not all of the seeds are in one basket however, Svalbard is meant to be a backup to 1,400 other seed banks worldwide. I guess it's comforting to know that these things are being taken seriously, it's just a little depressing to think that we have to go to these extremes!
