{"id":156834,"date":"2025-02-27T19:26:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T13:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=current-affairs&#038;p=156834"},"modified":"2025-02-27T19:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T13:56:01","slug":"svalbard-global-seed-vault","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/svalbard-global-seed-vault","title":{"rendered":"Svalbard Global Seed Vault"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is going to receive more than <\/span><b>14,000 new samples <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of food crop seeds from <\/span><b>21 genebanks.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>About Svalbard Global Seed Vault<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Svalbard Global Seed Vault <\/span><b>aims to provide insurance against both incremental and catastrophic loss <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of crop diversity held in traditional genebanks around the world.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b>As of 2024, seed duplicates of 1,301,397 samples<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from almost every country globally have been safeguarded in the vault.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-156815 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/272-67c0644e48717.webp\" alt=\"Svalbard Global Seed Vault\" width=\"498\" height=\"235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/272-67c0644e48717.webp 892w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/272-67c0644e48717-300x142.webp 300w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/272-67c0644e48717-768x362.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 498px) 100vw, 498px\" \/><b>Established: In February 2008<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Location:<\/b> <b>Island of Spitsbergen, of the Svalbard archipelago<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in<\/span><b> northern Norway in the Arctic Ocean.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Purpose:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">serve as a<\/span><b> backup storage for seed samples <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">protecting them<\/span><b> from natural disasters, war, and other events t<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hat could damage or destroy seed collections in other locations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Owned By:<\/b> <b>Norwa<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">y and<\/span><b> managed in partnership between the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and Food, the<\/span><b> regional genebank, NordGen<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>Non Profit organisation, Crop Trust.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Ownership of Seeds:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The seed boxes are<\/span><b> stored under the \u201cblack-box conditions,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d meaning the depositors are the only ones who can withdraw their own seeds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Storage:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Capacity: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Seed Vault can<\/span><b> store 4.5 million varieties of crops<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A <\/span><b>maximum of 2.5 billion seeds<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> may be stored in the Seed Vault with each packet consisting of an average of 500 seeds.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Temperature: (\u2212)18\u00b0C<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> temperature is required for optimal storage of the seeds.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Packaging: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The seeds are s<\/span><b>ealed in custom-made three-ply foil packages, which are sealed inside boxes <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and stored on shelves inside the Seed Vault.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Low Metabolic Activity<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The low temperature<\/span><b> (permafrost) and moisture levels inside the Seed Vault ensure low metabolic activity, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">keeping the seeds viable for long periods of time.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>India\u2019s National Gene Bank<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Establishment<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: India\u2019s <\/span><b>first national gene bank was established in 1996<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the <\/span><b>Indian Council of Agricultural Research -National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBPGR)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in New Delhi.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Capacity: T<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he ICAR-NBPGR genebank<\/span><b> holds 0.47 million units of germplasm entries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> including,<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Cereals, millets, legumes, oilseeds and vegetables\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>2nd National Gene Bank:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It has been <\/span><b>announced in the Budget for 2025-26\u00a0 to protect India\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s agricultural heritage by preserving native, traditional, and rare plant varieties.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The seed bank will <\/span><b>align with global conservation efforts, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">including<\/span><b> India\u2019s Seed Vault in Chang La (Ladakh) and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norway).<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>India&#8217;s Seed Vault: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is located in<\/span><b> Chang La, Ladakh a<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nd serves as a backup for India&#8217;s crop diversity, <\/span><b>storing over 5,000 seed accessions.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Set Up By: T<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he vault is a joint effort by the <\/span><b>Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR).<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"vc_table_green\"><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 99.6375%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 111.19%; text-align: center;\" colspan=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Also Read<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 49.797%; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>UPSC Daily Editorials<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 61.393%; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/daily-current-affairs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>UPSC Daily Current Affairs<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 49.797%; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/quiz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Daily Current Affairs Quiz<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 61.393%; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/mains-answer-writing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Daily Main Answer Writing<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 49.797%; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.pw.live\/govt-entrance-exams\/upsc-books\/upsc-previous-year-papers?utm_source=SEO&#038;utm_medium=PW+Live&#038;utm_campaign=UPSC+Previous+Year+Papers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Check Out Previous Years Papers From PW Store<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 61.393%; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/upsc-test-series-courses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>UPSC Test Series<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 49.797%; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.pw.live\/govt-entrance-exams\/upsc-books\/upsc-textbooks?utm_source=SEO&#038;utm_medium=PW+Live&#038;utm_campaign=UPSC+Textbooks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Check Out UPSC NCERT Textbooks From PW Store<\/b><\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 61.393%; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.pw.live\/govt-entrance-exams\/upsc-books\/upsc-modules?utm_source=SEO&#038;utm_medium=PW+Live&#038;utm_campaign=UPSC+Modules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Check Out UPSC Modules From PW Store<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway is going to receive more than 14,000 new samples of food crop seeds from 21 genebanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":156819,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"paper-wise":[],"subject":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/156834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156834"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/156834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156841,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/156834\/revisions\/156841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156834"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=156834"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=156834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}