A"doomsday vault" nestled deep in the Arctic received 60,000 new seed samples on Tuesday, including Prince Charles' cowslips and Cherokee sacred corn, increasing stocks of the world's agricultural bounty in case of global catastrophe.
"As the pace of climate change and biodiversity loss increases, there is new urgency surrounding efforts to save food crops at risk of extinction," said Stefan Schmitz, who manages the reserve as head of the Crop Trust. "Solutions that are vital for feeding a growing population and achieving a green transition," she added.A total of 36 regional and international institutions have contributed to the 60,000 samples that were deposited on Tuesday.
Britain's Prince Charles, who is known for his environmental advocacy, sent the seeds of 27 wild plants, including cowslips and orchids collected from the meadows of Highgrove, his country home. The latest shipment will bring the number of seed varieties, stored in three underground alcoves at an optimum minus 18 degrees Celsius , to 1.05 million.Around two or three million samples"would be a good idea to make the future of the food of mankind even more secure," Schmitz told AFP in the freezing cold of Longyearbyen.