The Svalbard Global Seed Vault: A lifesaver in the Arctic

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The Svalbard Global Seed VaultA Lifesaver in the Arctic

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Longyearbyen, Svalbard

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A bigger picture…

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World Population Growth

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Climate Change

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People fed per hectare

1960 2 people

2005 > 4 people

2030 > 5 people

Increasing Pressure on Land

Land Degradation

Urbanization

Alternative uses: Biofuel

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Produce more food

More nutritious food

On less land

With less water

The Challenge Ahead

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With less pesticides

With less fertilizer

With less environmental With less

water

footprint

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It starts with a seed…

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…millions of varieties

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• Natural diversity as a raw

material for crop improvement

via traditional breeding

• Several million crop

varieties worldwide (cultivars,

traditional landraces, wild

relatives)

The Importance of Crop Diversity

ALL are important because ONE might have

the trait to adapt to a changing climate,

increase nutritious value, fight disease, or

produce higher yields

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CROP

IS A PREREQUISITE FOR FOOD SECURITY

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Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition,

and promote sustainable agriculture

2.5: By 2020 maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and

domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and

diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels, and ensure

access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic

resources and associated traditional knowledge as internationally agreed

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

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• China lost - 90% of rice varieties since 1950

• Mexico lost - 80% of corn varieties since 1900

• India lost - 90% of rice varieties since 1900

• USA lost - 90% of fruit and vegetable varieties since 1900

• …..

Diversity Already Lost

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We can’t retrieve what we have

lost, but we can protect what

we have - and make it available.

Collecting Crops in Genebanks 25

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Collected from our farmer’s fields…

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…and collected naturally in the wild

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Collected and sorted

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Which are then grown out

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Or bred to withstand climatic changes

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Duplicates made

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Shared with farmers

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To improve productivity

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…and improve resistance to drought and disease

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…or improve taste

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…and to be conserved forever in genebanks

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A cost-effective, rational,

and global system for the

conservation of crop diversity.

The Global System has three

pillars.

The Objective

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• More than 750,000 varieties

held in trust for the

international communities

• 11 collections worldwide

The International Collections

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International Genebanks

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• National and regional

collections of global

significance

National Collections

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• Information on each variety

can be used to breed better

crops

• Sharing and making this data

available is tricky and needs

to be done well

Data

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The Svalbard Global Seed Vault

• A safety backup of the

world’s crop collections

• The insurance plan for

collections globally

A Global Backup

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We need backupsFire, Philippines National Genebank

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Duplicates are prepared

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… and put in boxes

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Maize and WheatThe Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

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RiceThe International Rice Research Institute

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BeansThe International Center for Tropical Agriculture

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Shipped to Svalbard

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Scanned for security purposes

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Brought to the vault

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Deep inside the mountain

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Placed on the shelves

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…and safeguarded forever.

THANK YOU

WWW.CROPTRUST.ORG

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