Ukraine deposits seeds in Svalbard vault for first time since war

Thousands of seed samples of important agricultural crops were recently secured in Svalbard as 21 genebanks from across the world participated in a seed deposit.

Ukraine is a major agricultural nation and is often referred to as the breadbasket of Europe. The country also maintains a highly significant and extensive genebank collection which, according to FAO, contains more than 150,000 seed samples. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the national genebank in Kharkiv faced a critical situation as bombing damaged buildings and infrastructure. In cooperation with FAO and the Crop Trust, and with financial support from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, NordGen took part in an emergency effort during the spring of that year to support the Ukrainian genebank. At a later stage, the collection was also relocated to a site in western Ukraine, far from the front line.

"When Norway established the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the vision was to create a secure safeguard for the world's crop diversity and a shared resource for humanity. Today's deposit demonstrates that this vision is more relevant than ever. Countries and institutions continue to come together to protect the genetic resources that future generations will depend on for food security and resilience. We are proud to partner with the Crop Trust and NordGen in this unique global effort," said Nils Kristen Sandtrøen, Norway's Minister of Agriculture and Food.

In addition to Ukraine, 20 other genebanks from four continents sent a combined total of more than 16,000 seed samples to the Seed Vault. The boxes contained seed samples sent from countries in Asia, South America, Europe and Africa.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault functions as a safety deposit box where the world's genebanks can store backup copies of their unique seed collections free of charge. These collections are vital for safeguarding future global food security. Today, the Seed Vault holds more than 1.4 million seed samples belonging to over 130 genebanks. This makes the Svalbard Global Seed Vault the world's largest secure repository for the diversity of cultivated crops.