Will the 'doomsday' seed vault protect our food supplies?

• Global Seed Vault is located on Svalbard off Norway's northern coast 
• Vault provides a back-up to network of seed banks around the world
• Seeds from  Bulgaria, Colombia, India and Taiwan are been delivered
• Shipments include wheat, barley, maize, chickpea and groundnut
•  It will be vital to ensuring food security in the face of climate change, warns Global Crop Diversity Trust, the organisation which manages the vault

In an effort to ensure global food security, 10,000 new varieties of crops from around the world are being added to the 'doomsday' seed vault in the Arctic.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, on an island off Norway's northern coast, already stores 825,000 samples of seeds, which represent 13,000 years of agricultural history.

The vault provides a back-up to the network of seed banks around the world, which store seeds but can be threatened by war, accidents and natural disasters

10,000 varieties of crops are being added to the 'doomsday' seed vault in the Arctic to protect humanity

 Protecting the diversity of the world's crops is 'fundamental' for ensuring food security in the face of climate change, warned the Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT), which manages the vault.

A series of deliveries of seeds to Svalbard this month will help in that fight, the GCDT said.

Four shipments from major genebanks based in Bulgaria, Colombia, India and Taiwan are delivering varieties from more than 100 countries.

The shipments include types of wheat, barley, corn, sorghum, peal millet, chickpea, groundnut, Asian and African aubergine.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, on an island off Norway's northern coast, already stores 825,000 samples of seeds which represent 13,000 years of agricultural history

The shipments include types of wheat (pictured), barley, corn,  peal millet, chickpea and groundnut

Seeds of a number of indigenous African vegetables, including okra, amaranth, spider plant and jute mallow are also being deposited.

Preserving different food plant varieties will help breed and develop crops that can withstand a changing climate, for example, by being more drought resistant or able to cope with higher temperatures, the trust said.

MILLIONS MAY DIE IF VALUABLE SEEDS ARE DESTROYED IN MIDDLE EAST

Fertile Crescent is an ancient area arcing around the Arabian

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Violent turmoil in the Middle East could indirectly lead to millions of people starving from food shortages, research suggests.

Scientists have found that the highest concentration of wild crop plants needed to produce new food varieties lie in an area known as the Fertile Crescent.

However, this area is also at the centre of a number of civil wars that are placing valuable crop species at risk of extinction.

The Fertile Crescent is an ancient area of fertile soil arcing around the Arabian desert from Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and ending in Iraq and Iran.

It has the largest diversity of 'crop wild relatives' (CWRs) - species closely related to our crops which are needed to create future 'super crop' varieties.

Given that the human population is set to expand from the 7.26 billion to 9.6 billion by 2050, CWRs will be needed to improve crop yields and feed the extra people.

But researchers at Birmingham have shown that 12 per cent of CWRs are threatened with extinction and all are likely to be already suffering a loss of genetic diversity. 

Marie Haga, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, said: 'The Svalbard Global Seed Vault symbolises how we can create a long-term, sustainable and positive solution to feed the world forever.

'The issue of hunger is global, and increasingly urgent. If we continue as we are, food production will be reduced and food prices will rise. Even more people will go hungry.

'Crop diversity is essential if we are to provide more food, more nutritious food and affordable food for the poor.

'Maintaining crop diversity, and the genetic wealth it provides to current and future generations, is beneficial not just to crop breeders, but to the farmers that feed all of us on this planet.'

The GCDT is calling on governments, businesses, foundations and wealthy individuals to contribute to a £500 million ($800 million) endowment fund which will pay to conserve crop varieties in perpetuity.

The seed vault is located in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. It is situated north of mainland Europe, it is about midway between continental Norway and the North Pole