Seeds on Ice: Svalbard and the Global Seed Vault: New and Updated Edition

The remarkable story of the Global Seed Vault—and the valiant effort to save the past and the future of agriculture: Now updated with a new chapter by the author and photos from recent improvements in the facilities.Author Cary Fowler, co-founder of the Global Seed Vault, was named a 2024 World Food Prize Laureate. Closer to the North Pole than to the Arctic Circle, on an island in a remote Norwegian archipelago, lies a vast global seed bank buried within a frozen mountain. At the end of a 130-meter long tunnel chiseled out of solid stone is a room filled with humanity’s precious treasure, the largest and most diverse seed collection ever assembled: more than a half billion seeds containing the world’s most prized crops, a safeguard against catastrophic starvation. The Global Seed Vault, a visionary model of international collaboration, is the brainchild of Cary Fowler, renowned scientist, conservationist, and biodiversity advocate. In SEEDS ON ICE, Fowler tells for the first time the