Last week, a “systems-restore disk” for the earth, a high-security seed bank drilled into a mountain on the snow-bound Norwegian island of Svalbard, opened its doors for business. The Arctic repository, named the Global Seed Vault, will preserve 3 million seeds at sub-zero temperatures, eventually representing all known varieties of the world’s crops. Operated by remote from Sweden and guarded by a Norwegian Ministry assisted by the hungry polar bear brigade, the Arctic “conflict seeds” reserve will be tapped only when human or natural disaster has obliterated all other sources. The undertaking has been hailed by the scientific community as both grandiose and necessary.

The Arctic seed project seems to be a clear response to mounting world tensions and depleting resources. Back in July of 2006, when the first stone was chipped toward this seed vault, Cary Fowler, the Tennessee-born head of the Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust, which will manage the Arctic seed bank, told Reuters that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda wiped out dozens of old crops and destroyed those countries’ national seed banks. Agribusiness has wiped out thousands more – the US had 7,100 apple varieties in the 19th century, and now fewer than 300 remain. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) easily cross-pollinate with the open-pollinated varieties, contaminating the original seed lines.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is funded and established by Norway as a service to the world. The Global Crop Diversity Trust is providing support for the ongoing operations of the seed vault, as well as organizing and funding the preparation and shipment of seeds from developing countries to the facility.

Because even writers must reluctantly admit that sometimes pictures trump words, I’ve included several photos of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. These images are courtesy of Mari Tefre of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. The image above shows the roof of the Global Seed Vault and the entrance to the Global Seed Vault. The two images below show seeds arriving inside the Seed Vault, and another view of the Seed Vault roof. There are lots of other images at the Global Crop Diversity Trust Seed Vault photo gallery, as well as more information about the project. And here’s a link to the Yahoo news story on the project, which was emailed to me by a reader, Morph03.

I’d also like to note that Seed Savers Exchange, which is one source for heirloom eating beans, has donated 485 varieties of vegetable seeds to the Seed Vault.