Deep inside an abandoned coal mine, in the permafrost of Svalbard, a black steel container safeguards sealed wooden boxes containing seeds. These seeds are part of an experiment dating back to 1986 after a backup of the Nordic seed collection was put here for safe storage as a kind of…
This time of year, the last rays of sun give Svalbard a magical blue light. And both the Slovakian and Norwegian Ministers of Agriculture could enjoy it as they attended the first ever Slovakian seed deposit. The seeds from the Slovakian genebank were in good company as they were carried…
The Polish flag next to the Norwegian ans Swedish, thick agreement papers and a room full of anticipation. As the head of the Polish Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute (IHAR) recently signed the depositor’s agreement, IHAR became institution number 77 to join the Svalbard Global Seed Vault depositors’ family. The…
Today, NordGen carried seeds into Svalbard Global Seed Vault deposited by the regional gene bank SPGRC in Zambia. The cooperation between the gene bank of Southern Africa and the Nordic countries has been long and fruitful. We are therefore happy to inform that SPGRC and its national centers all have…
Genetic diversity is a prerequisite for food production in climate change. From Katowice and the NordGen side event at COP24, experts urge on world leaders to prioritize the crucial work done by gene banks before it’s too late. Thor Gunnar Kofoed is born in Bornholm, a small island off the…
NordGen will be present with a side-event in the Nordic Pavilion at COP24 in Katowice, Poland. On 6 December under the theme Rethinking with Bioeconomy, NordGen arranges a talk that takes off in the extreme weather events in Scandinavia and Finland last summer. We discuss how genetic resources can…
