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Letter from the Executive Director

"The importance of the global family of genebanks as fail-safes for our planet’s future food supply has never been so apparent."

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting the Svalbard Global...

Polar Bears, Choirs and Camaraderie

Touching base with Åsmund Asdal, Seed Vault Coordinator, NordGen

Coronavirus SARD-CoV-2 (COVID-19) continues to significantly impact so many of us around the world. With countries on...

Reasons to consider seeds in the time of the coronavirus

By Luigi Guarino, Director or Science and Charlotte Lusty, Head of Programs and Genebank Platform Coordinator

Perhaps you think that the middle of a global pandemic is not...

This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and to our foods. Although farmers have been adapting crops for thousands of years through the...

It might come as a surprise that there are many crops that can’t be conserved in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Aside from today’s star the banana, these include favorites like: cacao, cassava, coffee, potato, sweetpotato,...

Stefan Schmitz, Executive Director

Stefan Schmitz, Executive Director

The values of multilateralism have never been so important

As I write, one third of the world’s population is in “lockdown”. Governments are demanding that their citizens stay at home. New...

In the whirlwind of the last several months, the global pandemic COVID-19 has altered the way many of us run our lives as we trade trousers for sweatpants, staff meetings for video conferences guest-starring our pets. And like...