This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

The Arctic global seed vault has reached the milestone of having 1m varieties stored in its deep freeze. The new deposits are being made after unexpected flooding of its entrance tunnel in 2017 prompted an upgrade.

Seeds from 60,000 crop varieties from across the world are being placed in the vault to back up those held in other seed banks.

Arctic stronghold of world’s seeds flooded after permafrost melts Read more

The €9m (£7.5m) underground facility in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard opened in 2008 as a “failsafe” store. But the unexpectedly rapid pace of global heating led to melting of the permafrost that had encased it.

Now, a €20m refurbishment by the Norwegian government means the vault is secure for the future and “absolutely watertight”, according to officials.

The destruction of nature means vital diversity of crops and their wild relatives are being lost, at a time when the impact of the climate emergency means new varieties are needed to cope with changing weather and pests. Seed banks can also be destroyed by power loss and war, as happened in Aleppo, Syria, making the Svalbard vault crucial.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The vault, which holds seeds from 60,000 crop varieties, has been carved into solid rock. Photograph: Jim Richardson/NG/Alamy

Tuesday’s deposits, from 36 institutions, are the most diverse and include seeds of 27 wild plants from Prince Charles’s Highgrove estateas well as seeds of the candy roaster squash, which are being deposited by the Cherokee Nation in the US.

Wild emmer wheat, known as the “mother of wheat” when it was discovered in 1906, is being deposited by Haifa University in Israel, alongside potato varieties from Peru and other crops from Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar and New Zealand. Each sample contains roughly 500 seeds.

The Svalbard vault, which is carved into solid rock, houses samples of about 1,050,000 crop varieties from 5,000 species. This represents two-fifths of the estimated 2.4m varieties in the world, and the vault has plenty of room to accommodate them.

“Crop diversity is an essential basis of food production,” said Hannes Dempewolf, a scientist at Crop Trust, which operates the vault alongside the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre. “And the Svalbard vault is the essential backup facility for seed banks around the world, safeguarding the biodiversity they hold.”

Many crop varieties have been lost, including 93% of fruit and vegetable varieties in the US.

“The issue of some water intrusion in the entrance tunnel was certainly not foreseen during construction,” Dempewolf said. “No one thought summers would be so warm.

Timeline Half a century of dither and denial – a climate crisis timeline Show Hide Fossil fuel companies have been aware of their impact on the planet since at least the 1950s The physicist Edward Teller tells the American Petroleum Institute (API) a 10% increase in CO2 will be sufficient to melt the icecap and submerge New York. “I think that this chemical contamination is more serious than most people tend to believe.” Lyndon Johnson’s President’s Science Advisory Committee states that “pollutants have altered on a global scale the carbon dioxide content of the air”, with effects that “could be deleterious from the point of view of human beings”. Summarising the findings, the head of the API warned the industry: “Time is running out.” Shell and BP begin funding scientific research in Britain this decade to examine climate impacts from greenhouse gases. A recently filed lawsuit claims Exxon scientists told management in 1977 there was an “overwhelming” consensus that fossil fuels were responsible for atmospheric carbon dioxide increases. An internal Exxon memo warns “it is distinctly possible” that CO2 emissions from the company’s 50-year plan “will later produce effects which will indeed be catastrophic (at least for a substantial fraction of the Earth’s population)”. The Nasa scientist James Hansen testifies to the US Senate that “the greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now”. In the US presidential campaign, George Bush Sr says: “Those who think we are powerless to do anything about the greenhouse effect forget about the White House effect … As president, I intend to do something about it.” A confidential report prepared for Shell’s environmental conservation committee finds CO2 could raise temperatures by 1C to 2C over the next 40 years with changes that may be “the greatest in recorded history”. It urges rapid action by the energy industry. “By the time the global warming becomes detectable it could be too late to take effective countermeasures to reduce the effects or even stabilise the situation,” it states. Exxon, Shell, BP and other fossil fuel companies establish the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), a lobbying group that challenges the science on global warming and delays action to reduce emissions. Exxon funds two researchers, Dr Fred Seitz and Dr Fred Singer, who dispute the mainstream consensus on climate science. Seitz and Singer were previously paid by the tobacco industry and questioned the hazards of smoking. Singer, who has denied being on the payroll of the tobacco or energy industry, has said his financial relationships do not influence his research. Shell’s public information film Climate of Concern acknowledges there is a “possibility of change faster than at any time since the end of the ice age, change too fast, perhaps, for life to adapt without severe dislocation”. At the Rio Earth summit, countries sign up to the world’s first international agreement to stabilise greenhouse gases and prevent dangerous manmade interference with the climate system. This establishes the UN framework convention on climate change. Bush Sr says: “The US fully intends to be the pre-eminent world leader in protecting the global environment.” Two month’s before the Kyoto climate conference, Mobil (later merged with Exxon) takes out an ad in The New York Times titled Reset the Alarm, which says: “Let’s face it: the science of climate change is too uncertain to mandate a plan of action that could plunge economies into turmoil.” The US refuses to ratify the Kyoto protocol after intense opposition from oil companies and the GCC. The US senator Jim Inhofe, whose main donors are in the oil and gas industry, leads the “Climategate” misinformation attack on scientists on the opening day of the crucial UN climate conference in Copenhagen, which ends in disarray. A study by Richard Heede, published in the journal Climatic Change, reveals 90 companies are responsible for producing two-thirds of the carbon that has entered the atmosphere since the start of the industrial age in the mid-18th century. The API removes a claim on its website that the human contribution to climate change is “uncertain”, after an outcry. Exxon, Chevron and BP each donate at least $500,000 for the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. Mohammed Barkindo, secretary general of Opec, which represents Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria, Iran and several other oil states, says climate campaigners are the biggest threat to the industry and claims they are misleading the public with unscientific warnings about global warming. Jonathan Watts

“A major upgrade was the only right thing to do and the Norwegian government has certainly put the resources up to make sure that it is absolutely watertight now.”

Hege Njaa Aschim, a spokeswoman for the government, which owns the vault, said: “The entrance tunnel and the upgrade will secure the seed vault for the future.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The vault was built to protect millions of food crops from climate change, wars and natural disasters. Photograph: Renato Granieri/Alamy

In 2017, she told the Guardian: “A lot of water went into the start of the tunnel … The vault was supposed to [operate] without the help of humans.” No water reached the seed vaults.

The 130-metre entrance tunnel has been fully waterproofed and the cooling equipment that keeps the vault at -18C moved to a new service building, so heat from the machinery can be released outside. The vault is 130 metres above sea level and designed for a “virtually infinite lifetime”.

“It is always dangerous to talk about something being completely failsafe and impregnable,” Dempewolf said. “In 20, 30, 40 years down the line, we will continue to monitor the situation to see whether any other upgrades are necessary.”