Norway to Spend $13 Million to Upgrade Svalbard Seed Vault

(Bloomberg) -- Norway is pushing 100 million kroner ($13 million) more to upgrade the Svalbard Global Seed Vault after 10 years of operations.

The measures are part of a long-term plan to enhance the performance and extend the viability of the seed vault. The vault, also called the doomsday vault, stores seeds from around the world to ensure conservation and protect genetic material important for food and agriculture.

The upgrades “will ensure that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault can continue to offer the world’s gene banks a secure storage space in the future,” Norway’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Jon Georg Dale said. “It is a great and important task to safeguard all the genetic material that is crucial to global food security.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonas Bergman in Oslo at jbergman@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net.

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