Svalbard Seed Bank Opens to Virtual Tours

Why this is here: The vault currently holds about 140,000 different varieties of wheat, ensuring a diverse range of this staple crop is preserved for the future.

Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault now allows virtual tours of its facilities. Located on the archipelago of Svalbard, the vault stores over 1.3 million seed samples from nearly every country worldwide. The Norwegian government built the facility to withstand disaster and safeguard the global food supply, awarding it the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.

Construction cost roughly 8.3 million euros, with an additional 20 million euros spent on technical updates after water leaks occurred in the entrance tunnel due to climate change. The vault maintains a temperature of -18°C using permafrost and is designed to resist volcanic activity, earthquakes, and rising sea levels.

In 2023, the vault received 20,443 seed samples from Australia, Germany, Morocco, and other nations, bringing the total to over 1.1 million. Spain contributed over 1,000 seeds including 300 varieties of winter cereals and 81 tomato types.

Access to the stored seeds remains with the depositing countries, and the vault’s annual operating cost is about one million euros. Further research is needed to fully mitigate the effects of a changing climate on the facility’s long-term stability.