Arctic Seed Vault Faces Climate Crisis: How Svalbard Protects Worlds Crop Diversity Amid Rapid Warming

Arctic Seed Vault Faces Climate Crisis: How Svalbard Protects Worlds Crop Diversity Amid Rapid Warming

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Listeners, Welcome to your latest update on this falbarred global
seed Vault, sometimes called the Doomsday Seed Vault, and its
extraordinary role in safeguarding global biodiversity. This Arctic facility remains
the largest and most secure backup for the genetic diversity
of crops worldwide. As of the summer of twenty twenty five,

(00:20):
it stores over one point three million seed samples from
more than six thousand species, representing a critical resource for
food security and resilience in times of climate crisis. According
to Pharmanaut, the Seed Vault continues to be fundamental to
global efforts to secure crop diversity and faces the ongoing
challenge of mounting climate threats. Multiple sources, including reports from

(00:45):
the Food and Agriculture Organization, highlight recent seed deposits from
around the world, especially those from regions combating genetic erosion
and crop loss. Just last June, a new batch from
the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
known as Ikarda, was safely secured in Smalbard, ensuring that

(01:06):
varieties adapted to arid environments remain protected for future generations.
This diversity is crucial as regions like Georgia continue efforts
to preserve native wheat varieties, which might otherwise disappear forever.
The Vault's continued security rests on Swalbard's once reliable permafrost. However,
small Bard is experiencing some of the most dramatic temperature

(01:29):
rises on Earth. Brist and truth Out both report that
this Arctic archipelago is now warming six to seven times
faster than the global average, leading to unpredictable thaws and
even rain during what used to be frigid winter months.
Scientists working near the Seed Vault this past February describe
shocking scenes air temperature soared to forty degrees fahrenheit in

(01:52):
what should be a five degree environment. Instead of using
drill rigs, researchers could dig soil with spoons because it
was as soft as ice cream. This drastic melting has
caused flooding in the past, such as in twenty seventeen
when water entered the Seed Vault's access tunnel while the
seeds remained unharmed. This event served as a wake up

(02:13):
call about future risks. Despite these mounting challenges, the Seed
Vault is still considered secure. The Norwegian government and international
partners have invested in reinforcing the facility with improved drainage
and water proofing measures following the twenty seventeen incident, as
detailed by one work. Nevertheless, the permafrost that was once

(02:35):
assumed permanent is now viewed by experts as an unreliable
barrier against environmental change. The seed vault stands not only
as a security deposit for the world's crops, but as
an unsettling indicator of how fast the Arctic is changing.
As Grist notes, the feedback loops of thawing permafrost, methane release,

(02:56):
and disappearing sea ice are pushing the region into full
climate crisis mode. For listeners curious about the scale of
the collection, the latest estimates by those recently visiting Spitzbergen
put the seed count at around six hundred and forty
two million individual seeds held in vaults carved deep into

(03:18):
a mountainside. These seeds are deposited by gene banks from
all over the globe, including for crops unique to Georgia
and other biodiversity hotspots. Looking toward the future, global efforts
to protect biodiversity are more urgent than ever. Agricultural experts
and environmental groups are calling for new approaches to complement

(03:41):
seed vault storage, like regenerating native varieties in local fields
and reducing reliance on a single backup site. Thisfalbarred. Global
Seed Vault remains a beacon of planetary stewardship, but it
is also a stark reminder that climate change cannot be
out engineered forever. Thank you for tuning in for this

(04:02):
important update on the Doom's de vault. For more stories
on biodiversity, science and climate challenges, be sure to come
back next week.