Why seed banks aren't the only answer to food security
by Simran Sethi from on (#VTA7)
Hopes are being pinned on backup vaults to rescue the seeds we're losing, but some simple changes in our diets can make a difference too
On 10 September, Dr Mahmoud Solh, director general of the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (Icarda), sent an urgent request to the Svalbard global seed vault asking for the return of collections of seeds once held in Aleppo, Syria.
A few weeks later, 128 crates of seeds holding around 38,000 samples of wheat, barley, lentil, chickpea, fava bean, pea, grass pea and legumes were removed from the vault located in the frigid, snow-packed archipelago halfway between Norway and the north pole.
