Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Welcome address, Lars Peder Brekk, Minister of Agriculture and Food

 
One year ago, the very first box of seeds to enter this seed vault was carried in and put on the shelves by Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Kenyan Nobel Prize Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai. Today we have added more boxes of seeds to those shelves - the perfect way to celebrate the Vault’s one year anniversary - and recognize its first year of successful operation.

Back in the early 1980s, when our Nordic Gene Bank was looking for a safe place for its security seed collection, Svalbard was the first choice. The Nordic Gene Bank was established in 1979 by the five Nordic countries who recognized the comparative advantage of putting their initiatives and resources together. And, in fact, they stored their seeds in the shaft of an abandoned coal mine not too far from here. The success of that endeavour made many in the scientific community into believers - here was the proof - a seed vault could exist inside a frozen Svalbard mountain - with space to host the security seed collections of all gene banks worldwide.

Of course, even with the vision, this would never have happened without the parallel evolution in the global community that led to establishment of a legal framework - a framework that provides common rules for sharing genetic diversity among nations. This international framework paved the way for a serious look at the Svalbard potential.

Three of Norway’s ministries - the ministry of agriculture and food, the ministry of the environment and the ministry of foreign affairs - put their heads together to make a vision a reality - a vision based on a feasibility study chaired by Dr. Cary Fowler, who then was a professor at the Norwegian Agriculture University. Now Cary Fowler is the Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

The Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property, brought together the entrepreneur Barlindhaug Consult and the contractors Leonard Nilsen og Sønner to turn the blueprint into reality. What you stand in now is the result - working night and day from the first ‘blast’ in May 2008 to this high tech, state-of-the-art structure carved into a frozen mountain - in just five months.

At the end of this hallway are the doors leading into the three halls - the seed vaults - these secure spaces are provided free for 4,5 millions seed deposits - we provide space  on request from public and private holders of seeds of distinct genetic resources that are important to humanity. The deposited seeds remain in “black box conditions” - sealed in boxes while here but returned to depositors on request. This vault is built to withstand attacks as well as any of the predicted changes that may result from global warming. Every reasonable effort has been made to safeguard these seeds.

My Ministry manages the seed vault in collaboration with our partners - 
The Nordic Genetic Resource Centre is responsible for the day-to-day operation and management. It organizes deposits in collaboration with depositing gene banks and the Global Crop Diversity Trust. The International Advisory Council - also present here today - supervises the management, advises the Ministry on important issues of the seed vault and are in many ways the ambassadors of the seed vault. The Global Crop Diversity Trust co-funds the cost of Vault operation and of shipping seeds from developing countries to Svalbard. It is therefore with great pleasure that I introduce Cary Fowler, the head of the Trust, who will give you more information about the seeds that have found a home here in Svalbard.