Over 30K new seed samples deposited at Svalbard Global Seed Vault for food security amid crises

Over 30,000 new seed samples from 23 depositors across 21 countries were deposited at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to preserve crop diversity amid climate change and conflict.

Notable contributors include genebanks from Bangladesh, Bolivia, Chad, Nigeria, and others, with Bolivia and Chad making their first deposits.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) contributed seeds for a 100-year experiment, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) deposited over 7,000 rice samples.

This initiative, supported by Norway's Biodiversity for Opportunities, Livelihoods, and Development (BOLD) project, aims to secure global food security.