Bundled up against the cold, dignitaries including 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai on Tuesday celebrated the official opening of a global seed vault on an island off northern Norway, DPA reported Blasted into a mountain, the three chambers in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault will contain seeds from key staple crops including maize, rice, wheat, beans, sorghum, cowpeas and soybeans. Norway-funded vault cost 50 million kroner (9.3 million dollars) to build. The vault is located about one kilometre away from the airport serving Longyearbyen, the main settlement on Svalbard, an archipelago off northern Norway some 1,000 kilometres from the North Pole. Arctic temperatures, permafrost and stable geological conditions were decisive factors in the choice of Svalbard. The seed bank is to serve as a safety net and store copies of seeds from other seed banks and collections worldwide. Capacity is estimated at 4.5 million samples - some 2 billion seeds. The seeds will be stored at -18 degrees Celsius. Should there be a power failure, the permafrost of -4 degrees will keep temperatures below freezing, organizers said. Deposits have been made from gene banks including the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico.
