Original version

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

Witness History

Podcasts

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: History

History as told by the people who were there

History as told by the people who were there.

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Witness History: The Doomsday Seed Vault

Documentaries

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

svalbard-1.jpg

07/01/2019 GMT

The Doomsday Seed Vault

BBC World Service - Witness History, The Doomsday Seed Vault

In 2008, the first global seed vault was opened to safeguard the world's crops

In early 2008, the first global seed vault was opened inside a mountain in the Arctic Circle to keep the world's food supply safe in the event of a global catastrophe.

In January 2008, seeds began arriving at the world's first global seed vault, buried deep inside a mountain on an Arctic island a-thousand kilometres north of the Norwegian coast. The vault was built to ensure the survival of the world's food supply and its agricultural history in the event of a global catastrophe. Louise Hidalgo has been speaking to the man whose idea it was, American agriculturalist Cary Fowler.

(Photo: journalists and cameramen outside the entrance of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault that was officially opened on 26th February 2008. Credit:  Hakon Mosvold Larsen/AFP/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Witness History

The Doomsday Seed Vault

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

About BBC World Service