Svalbard global seed vault (Dooms Day Vault)
There is currently a war between Russia and Ukraine, and the risk of a nuclear or chemical attack has increased. Be its destruction by any such man-made event or natural calamities like earthquakes, or global warming, both these things indicate that one day the earth will be destroyed. If this really happens, scientists from hundreds of countries around the world have created a special bank (treasury) called ‘Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault)’ in Norway so that the next generation does not have to suffer for agricultural seeds.
Some Special Features of Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault)
- Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault) is built 390 feet deep in a sandstone mountain in Spitsbergen Island i.e. Norway.
- A 400-foot-long tunnel of gray concrete is cut into the mountain for Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault).
- Even if electricity does not reach this vault, the seeds kept here can remain safe for about 200 years due to natural temperature, which means that even if any calamity happens in the coming years, the new generation will be able to use this second one for cultivation.
- The roof and gates of the Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault) are fitted with reflective stainless steel, glass, and prisms to prevent heat from entering.
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- Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault) has a separate account for each country where they can store their seeds. Simply put, just like normal banks have lockers in which people keep valuables or jewelry, seeds are kept in this place.
- A temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius is required for the safe storage of seeds which is available here. the world has helped in making this vault in more than 100 countries including India, North America, North Korea, and Sweden.
- The doors of this vault are bullet-proof and usually, this vault is opened 3 to 4 times a year. Agriculture in Syria was destroyed due to the civil war, so after opening the vault, about 38 thousand samples of wheat, dal, barley, and chickpea seeds were secretly sent to Syria, Morocco, and Lebanon, but due to the bad conditions there, the latter could not be used properly
- Bill Gates Foundation And apart from other countries, the Norwegian government has provided financial assistance of 60 crore rupees to build this vault.
- So far, more than 8 lakh 60 thousand different types of seeds have been kept in this vault, and the capacity of this vault is to store about 45 lakh types of seeds.
Why was Norway chosen?
After the idea of preserving agricultural seeds around the world came up, it was a struggle to find the perfect place for it, and scientists chose Norway because it is the closest to the North Pole and the coldest place. Any country that wants to deposit its seeds in this bank has to sign a deposit agreement with the Norwegian government. However, the ownership of the second deposit in the bank remains with that country, not the Norwegian government. The Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault) was created on February 26, 2008.
This is the reason for building the Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault)
Humans started farming on Earth 13 thousand years ago. Millions of other species have been discovered since then, but scientists have periodically speculated that a natural phenomenon on Earth, such as a catastrophic flood, tsunami, earthquake, or man-made nuclear or hydrogen war, threatened the existence of human civilization. So Svalbard global seed vault (Doomsday Vault) was created to protect the future generation of agricultural produce.
