Svalbard and the Global Seed Vault
Svalbard, located in the Arctic Ocean between Norway and the North Pole is a fascinating place to visit.
Last week, I traveled to Svalbard - it’s about as close to the North Pole as one can go by airplane. Although it is rich in nature and wildlife, it is also very remote and quite peaceful. My brief visit focused on an exclusive trip to the Global Seed Vault located on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen. The Seed Vault is a long-term seed storage facility, built to withstand natural or man-made disasters. Maintained by the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center, the Seed Vault has the capacity to store more than four-million varieties of crops and represents the world’s largest collection of crop diversity - a natural resource we must save forever. By the year 2020, Crop Trust hopes to build an endowment fund of 850-million dollars to ensure all unique crop collections in international gene banks can be conserved.
Here are more photos from Oslo, and my journey to Svalbard and the Global Seed Vault - enjoy.
-
- While in Oslo, we stayed at The Thief, a luxurious and modern waterfront hotel. It is located on the islet of Tjuvholmen, which translates to “Thief Islet” in Norwegian. The city district was actually once home to area criminals, but is now a center for tourism and contemporary art. (Photo by Michael Poliza) https://thethief.com/
-
- Here is a view from one of the hotel’s balconies looking out onto the fjord. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Adjacent to the hotel is the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. Founded in 1993, the Renzo-Piano designed galleries include contemporary works by artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- The night before our journey to the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, everyone on the expedition gathered at The Thief for dinner. Our group included philanthropists, entrepreneurs and concerned environmentalists. We enjoyed meeting, networking and sharing lots of business ideas.
-
- The next day, we headed to Svalbard. Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. One of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas, it’s known for its rugged, remote glaciers and frozen tundra where polar bears, Svalbard reindeer and Arctic foxes can be found. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Since Svalbard is located north of the Arctic Circle, it is very cold. The climate of Svalbard is dominated by its high latitude, with winter temperatures averaging about 3 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- On the right is the Global Seed Vault – a secure seed bank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen in Svalbard, about 810-miles from the North Pole. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- The Seed Vault’s main mission is to preserve a wide variety of duplicate plant seeds from gene banks worldwide and to ensure their safety in case of large-scale regional or global crises, so they are available for future generations. The seed vault is managed by the Norwegian government, the Crop Trust and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center. (Photo by Michael Poliza) https://www.croptrust.org/
-
- Here is the opening of the seed vault for our small initial group of visitors. Above the structure’s portal is a Light Installation by Norwegian artist, Dyveke Sanne.
-
- This is Marie Haga, the executive director of Crop Trust and the leader of our expedition.
-
- Here are Terre Blair and Joe Petrillo listening intently to the introduction given before entering the vault. Joe Petrillo helped to organize the expedition.
-
- Before entering the seed chamber, we all gathered in this giant cathedral-like hall. This is where shipments of seeds are barcoded before storage. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Here I am opening the door to the Vault Room. These vault rooms are located more than 425-feet from the entrance and nearly 200-feet below the surface of the top of the mountain. The double door and the surrounding walls are covered with thousands of tiny ice crystals. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Once we all entered the space, everyone wanted to take photos of the seed storage area. At the same time, I took a photo of Heather Kirkland in the crowd.
-
- Here I am standing in front of the gates to the seed storage area. It is bitterly cold in the Vault and blowing fans that circulated cold air made it feel even colder. As you can see, there are aisles and aisles of tall shelving to house all the boxes of seeds. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- There are more than 890,000 different types of seed in the Vault. This is the largest collection of agricultural biodiversity on earth. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Each box is labeled from the sending institute, making it very clear where each box originated. The seed vault is a success, with widespread support and a well-functioning operation, and it must continue to save our world’s seeds.
-
- Marie and I take a closer look at all the boxes of seeds. The process of gathering and securing seeds continues. Now in its 10th year of operation, there are more than 40-tons of seeds stored in this facility. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- These boxes are from the the Rural Development Administration in the Republic of Korea.
-
- Many boxes came from the United States National Plant Germplasm System. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- These boxes are from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics in Germany. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- And look closely, the Vault also contains a sizable collection of seeds from one of my favorite seed sources, the Seed Savers Exchange, the largest organization of gardeners working tirelessly to save heirloom vegetable varieties. https://www.seedsavers.org
-
- Here are Marie, Heather, and my friends Kira Faiman and Terre, combing through the aisles. There are no full time employees at the Seed Vault, but it is well-guarded by a series of locked doors, smoke, fire and motion detectors as well as many security cameras. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Here’s a fun photo of Joe, Terre, myself and Kira inside the Seed Vault. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- I took this photo of part of the group standing under the directional signs. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- We all took turns – it was an amazing place to be – so remote and so peaceful – perfect for the Vault. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- After our visit to the Vault, we were given a private tour of the Svalbard Museum, a museum of natural and cultural history of Svalbard. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Here’s Kira standing next to a polar bear – don’t worry, she is not touching it. Polar bears are the iconic symbol of Svalbard. According to the Norwegian Polar Institute, there are an estimated three-thousand polar bears in the Barents Sea area.The animals are protected and people moving outside the settlements are required to have appropriate scare devices to ward off any attacks. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- There are about 15 to 20 types of marine mammals in Svalbard, including whales, dolphins, seals, walruses, and of course, polar bears. There are also about 30-species of birds, most of which are migratory. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Joe and Sarah Zapp look at the coal mining installation. Coal mining is the dominant commercial business in Svalbard, and among the three main industries in the area. The other two are tourism and research. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- At the end of our tour through the museum, we all gathered for a brief discussion on the Vault, its history and its goals. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Here I am with Marie and other members of the Crop Trust team. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- For dinner, we all met at the Gruvelageret Restaurant. Gruvelageret is located high on a hill in a historical part of Longyearbyen in a former coal mining company warehouse. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- The restaurant’s interior focuses on the history of early coal mining in Longyearbyen, and its menu shows a love for arctic cuisine. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- Here’s a nice photo of some of us at our table. For our main course, we had a delicious reindeer tenderloin and heart potato gratin ith roasted pumpkin. For dessert, we enjoyed a chocolate mushroom ganache with cloudberries. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- My friend, Terre, is an acclaimed journalist, who most recently produced, and hosted The Bloomberg Media award-winning six part series, “Big Problems Big Thinker”. After dinner, she conducted a fireside chat and interviewed me – we talked about our trip to the Vault and why it’s important to support the Global Seed Vault efforts. (Photo by Michael Poliza)
-
- And finally, we saw the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights are the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth’s atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun’s atmosphere – a most spectacular sight. (Photo by Jake Ahles)
-
- Variations in color are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60-miles above the earth. (Photo by Jake Ahles)
-
- During the polar night from November to February, there is no daylight in Longyearbyen. Svalbard is actually the only place on the planet where you can experience the aurora borealis in the daytime. (Photo by Jake Ahles)
-
- It was a magical visit. For more information on the Seed Vault and its mission, go to their web site. Tomorrow, I will share more photos from the Arctic and our fun time snowmobiling around Svalbard. (Photo by Michael Poliza) https://www.croptrust.org/
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
