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Finally, a Peek Into the Arctic Seed Vault That Could Save Humanity – Mother Jones

The repository, designed to last forever, offers virtual tours for the first time.

By Patrick Greenfield, March 5, 2023

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

“It is a bit like being in a cathedral. It has high ceilings and when you’re standing inside the mountain, there’s hardly any sound.”NordGen

Jutting out of the permafrost on a mountainside on Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, the entrance to the world’s “doomsday” seed vault is worthy of any James Bond movie.

Surrounded by snow, ice and the occasional polar bear, the facility houses 1.2 million seed samples from every corner of the planet as an insurance policy against catastrophe.

It is a monument to 12,000 years of human agriculture that aims to prevent the permanent loss of crop species after war, natural disaster or pandemic.

Source: Finally, a Peek Into the Arctic Seed Vault That Could Save Humanity – Mother Jones