How does the Svalbard Global Seed Vault protect the future of agriculture?

The answer

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, opened in 2008 on Norway's Spitsbergen island, stores over 1.3 million seed samples from nearly every country, representing more than 6,000 plant species. Located 130 meters inside a mountain at 78°N latitude, natural permafrost keeps seeds at -18°C even without electricity. The vault can hold 4.5 million samples - roughly 2.5 billion individual seeds. It operates as a backup for the world's 1,750 gene banks. In 2015, Syria's ICARDA became the first organization to withdraw seeds after war destroyed their Aleppo facility. Seeds of some crops can remain viable for thousands of years under these conditions.