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Witness History: The Doomsday Seed Vault

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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)

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