Multi-million dollar upgrade planned to secure 'failsafe' Arctic seed vault
by Damian Carrington Environment editor from Environment | The Guardian on (#2SS3G)
Improvements aim to ensure the vault's role as an impregnable deep freeze for the world's most precious food seeds after a recent flooding by melting permafrost
The Global Seed Vault, built in the Arctic as an impregnable deep freeze for the world's most precious food seeds, is to undergo a multi-million dollar upgrade after water from melting permafrost flooded its access tunnel.
No seeds were damaged but the incident undermined the original belief that the vault would be a "failsafe" facility, securing the world's food supply forever. Now the Norwegian government, which owns the vault, has committed $4.4m (NOK37m) to improvements.
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