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Podcasts Take Two
Seed bank 'doomsday vault' opened for the first time
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Oct 23, 2015
Listen • 6:20
Seed bank 'doomsday vault' opened for the first time
Why the war in Syria is forcing scientists to withdraw seeds from a vault meant to withstand climate change and other natural disasters.
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Photo by Paul Bica via Flickr Creative Commons
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Why the war in Syria is forcing scientists to withdraw seeds from a vault meant to withstand climate change and other natural disasters.

Nestled in the Arctic wastelands of Norway, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds more than 800,000 seed samples from across the world.

This so-called "doomsday vault" was designed to withstand rising sea levels, power outages and other disasters.

Cary Fowler, head of the international council that runs the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, explains why the Syrian conflict is forcing scientist to open the vault for the first time.