The Syrian War Has Prompted the First Ever Withdrawal From the Doomsday Seed Vault

Bob Strong—ReutersTelevision crews stand outside the Global Seed Vault before the opening ceremony in Longyearbyen February 26, 2008.

 The vault was built to withstand a nuclear war and houses back-up seeds for the world’s crops

The devastating impact of the conflict in Syria has forced a doomsday seed vault buried deep in the Arctic to allow withdrawal of seed deposits for the very first time.

Since 2008, the underground vault on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago has stored more than 860,000 seed samples from all over world. It was built to protect the earth’s food crops from nuclear war, climate change or disease, reports Reuters. Read more.