Doomsday Vault Unveiled

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 10:12:27 GMT

clipped by: KRMike
clipper's remarks: Big-Up the Norwegians for an interesting, forward looking project in a sensible place (rather than near an active volcano as one such site is). I just hope it isn't me who has to get there in the case of actually needing some of the samples after a catastrophe. Hmm. How long 'till it turns up in a book/film?

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Artist's impression of the entrance to the vault

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The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.

The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole.

The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change.

Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.

The Norwegian government is paying the $5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples.

The Arctic vault will act as a back-up store for a global network of seed banks financially supported by the trust.

Dr Fowler said that a proportion of the seeds housed at these banks would be deposited at Svalbard, which will act as a "living Fort Knox".

Tags: doomsday, seed, bank, science, future, crops

Clipmarks | KRMike's 'crops' clips

Doomsday Vault Unveiled