![]() Seed banks are also increasingly being called upon to help farmers adapt to global warming. The grains, bulbs, rice and other seeds in Svalbard keeps are only to be used in the event that the originals are lost as a result of regional or global crises.įor example, the national seed bank of the Philippines was damaged by flooding and subsequently destroyed in a fire in 2012, while facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq were destroyed in conflict. Regional vaults help to maintain a diversity of different plant varieties and provide seeds when needed to support agricultural efforts. It is primarily intended to serve as a back-up for other seed banks around the world which store valuable plant species. However, the specific species with the most seeds at Svalbard is Pearl Millet, a nutritious grain that grows in arid regions, with 84 million. Rice is by far the most common seed type stored, with 85 million seeds, and 82 million of these being Asian varieties like oryza sativa. They even store 100,000 seeds for hallucinogenic plants such as cannabis and opium, but no genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as Norwegian law prohibits them. The majority of these are species of food crops, with 69 per cent being grains, 9 per cent legumes and the rest being fruits, vegetables, herbs and other plants. ![]()
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